Darkest of Edge
by Ultimatedaywriter
Summary: Harry finds a book that he likes and emulates it. As it happens the book was more cultivation for dummies and less novel. Unfortunately, the mortal and wizarding world isn't ready for a Immortal. Get ready for lots of accidental deaths. Accidental Harem, lemons, and Eldritch horrors. MA
1. Chapter 1

**Updated 4/23/2020**

Piers was chasing him so close, he felt Piers breath on his neck. Grubby hands tugged at his shirt collar just as the last door opened. With a final push, Harry threw himself in the library and heard his shirt tear. The door's bell rang like sanctuary's call. The librarian looked up from her book and glared at Piers. The door slowly shut behind him.

"I'll get you next time Potter." Piers, Dudley's friend and school bully said.

"Young man if you're going to hide out here then at least find a book to take home." The librarian commanded. Harry nodded sweaty and tired. From his school to the library was a kilometer. They'd chased him like hungry hounds after a stag. A cough from the librarian and a glance at the door sent him on.

Harry walked down the shelves dedicated to adventure. Books of all kinds covered the rows. Some large other small. One book caught his eye. It was average in every aspect of the word. To Harry it was perfect. The title read "Uplifting Through Cultivation," at the time Harry had no idea what the words meant.

It was half past three and Harry had only thirty minutes to claim the book and get home. He flipped the book open and read the first page. Then the next, then the next ten, and the next thousand. Harry read about the lives of great men who cultivated powers beyond imagining. Some started off weak while others held great power from the beginning.

An indeterminable amount of time passed in Harry's perspective. Only after he finished the last page did he remember the clock. The time was forty-five after three. He'd just been at this for fifteen minutes. But that was impossible. He'd just finished chaptered 6999. Harry stood frozen a stag caught under a spotlight.

Harry made his way to the library's front desk with the mysterious book in hand. In between the book's cover were adventures of epic proportion. In this book were beings who cultivated essence. They could surpass heaven and earth, slay dragons, and cast down demons. He'd read of the legendary warriors and how they surpassed human limits.

Even knowing it was foolish, Harry wanted to be one of them. "Ah, you're ten. Are you sure your old enough to read such a complicated book?" The librarian asked. He looked up and she flashed for a second. The librarian was suddenly a massive collection of tentacles and eyes. As he stared his eyes widened and he felt himself drawn into something deep and unknowable.

"Careful young man if you stare for too long, you'll make me self-conscious." The elderly librarian said. "Now, get home boy and enjoy your adventure. Mobby Dick is a very thrilling tale."

He examined his book only to discover it was a copy of Moby dick. The librarian calmly added his name to the slip inside and sent him off.

Harry was dejected after leaving the library without his prize. All he had left of the book were memories.

"Harry go to your cupboard and don't make a sound. Vernon has some important clients coming today and I won't have you bothering them." She took his arm and forced him in the tiny room. The force of her push knocked him back a few steps making him trip over his mattress. The door quickly shut leaving only the tiny light on inside. He heard the door click leaving him trapped.

At first, he paced around the tiny room and tried to read Moby Dick, but it was not what he wanted. Harry wanted to read about powerful immortals battling each other for limited resources. A book about a mad captain hunting down a wale didn't do it for him. It wasn't the adventure of millennia that he craved. A thought occurred to him. He'd heard of live action role playing. People in America reenacted the civil war, why can't he try to live through his own battles.

He sat down crossed legged on the bed but couldn't focus with the light on. With an irritated huff he turned his only source of light off and closed his eyes. Like his hero he focused on the essence of the heavens and the earth and focused on pulling them into himself. He needed to gather it into his body and construct his spiritual sea.

Just as he imagined he'd felt something, a drunken peel of laughter knocked him out of his concentration. He remembered his hero and how an illusionary demon plucked out his eyes and tortured him. To surpass the mortal limit, a qi expert had to sever themselves from the mortal realm while they gathered essence.

This time when he closed his eyes and focused on the power of heaven and earth, he felt something. Now all he had to do was pull it to himself. Hours had passed and Harry didn't know if he was growing crazy or if his imagination was just that good. He continued to pull bringing the essence closer. The second it touched his skin he felt agony.

Sweat poured from his body as thick as cheese. As his focus on the essence shattered, he started to smell himself. It was like he'd never taken a bath before. His skin was covered in a putrid substance.

He was in trouble. Somehow his freakishness had hit an all new level. He was able to mimic the hero from the book he'd somewhat read in day. Now he was covered in a disgusting mesh of his body's toxins and dead flesh. His skin hurt and itched. He scratched at himself filling his nails with masses of filth.

Harry froze as a realization swept over him.

This was a symptom of entering the early refinery stage. The book he'd read had several smaller books inside. He'd read thousands of pages but at the time hadn't thought anything of it. Harry shook his head shaking off thoughts of freakishness.

There was a way to check and see if he was on the right path. He had to look within himself at the qi he'd just absorbed. If he could refine the strand into a purer form, he'd be at the refinery level.

In for a penny in for a pound as they say. Harry wanted to be like Remnant Malik and break through his limit. He focused inwardly meditating through the irritation, stink, and general greasy feeling.

Harry didn't see with his eyes and feel with his senses. Through another alien sense, he became aware of the olive strand of qi twisting through his body. Without sight he couldn't see color, but it was determined by his sixth sense that it was olive. Olive was a bad thing, black was the worst that was the color of complete impurity or waste. Olive was only the second worst color for absorbed qi. Fortunately, he knew how to deal with it.

The book he read had taught him several refinery techniques. He had to force it back out of his body and absorb it again. His body was the filter for now until he reached the first stage of refinery. If he was less moral, he'd use the Dursleys as a filter.

Why not use the Dursleys as a filter? Was it wrong?

He'd never asked a question like that in his life. It was because of his freakishness that they beat him. He was abnormal and deserved to be treated as a freak. He should be thankful that anyone would take someone like him in.

Those thoughts had been a part of him, there were built into his foundation. Now they were distant. Don't stand out and be normal. Those were his marching orders for the day to day. But he followed those to the letter and was still punished. It was his fault because he couldn't be like other children.

Then why fake it? Never had he thought to ask why. That wasn't true he was always shut down. Never question the Dursleys or you'll get punished.

He was always punished anyway. When Harry appeared on rooftops, turned his teacher's hair blue, and healed too quickly, there was no such thing as magic. Well that wasn't true qi was a type of magic.

His mind felt odd. Was it the qi, did it alter his mind? It was qi that made mortals into immortals. Immortals were violent killers who constantly fought over scarce cultivation resources. It was through battle that the worthy immortals grew stronger and the weaker ones died.

Harry put those thoughts aside. Before he gathered more essence, he had to purify his one strand of qi. Slowly, he pushed a portion of the olive strand out of his body. He cycled it then drew it back in. The shade of qi grew a little lighter and more filth painfully excreted from his pours.

He worked at it until morning growing more accustomed to his new sixth sense. By the time he heard a hand on the lock the qi strand had become a light green color. The qi was free of impurities and latched on to his frame. It began to rotate within him. Filth oozed from his body in streams, as his frame grew even more emaciated. On the bright side his body was bursting with energy. If his calculations were correct, he was as strong as a horse now. He could push Uncle Vernon's car in neutral with ease.

The cupboard door opened, and the smell of his progress was unleashed. Aunt Petunia covered her face when the smell hit her and screamed. Harry knew it was a night well spent after the reaction. A faint smiled spread across his lips as he stood up from his meditation position. Harry felt a jarring sensation of as his bones popped from movement. He felt great, lighter than a feather and hungrier than a bear after hibernation.

He took a step out of the cupboard into the sunlight when Uncle Vernon waddled after him his shirt covering his face.

"Don't take another bloody step. We took you in and tolerated your freakishness, but it ends here. Not another step through our house. How did this happen?" Harry took a step back from his uncle.

"I don't know it just happened." Harry lied.

Vernon took off his suite and put on a set of gloves. There was a look of determination on his face as he lifted Harry up like a hat and carried him outside.

"Pet toss me a bar of soap." Vernon looked around making sure the no one was peaking over the fence.

"Vernon you'll be late for work let the freak," Vernon held up his hand silencing Petunia.

Vernon turned on the hose. "Harry hold up your arms." He'd never seen this side to his uncle. He obeyed, and Vernon quickly hosed him down before handing him bar of soap. "Scrub yourself until your clean enough to get in the shower."

"Vernon why are you being nice to him?" Petunia asked in a harsh whisper.

"He obviously kept it in until this morning. I just signed a deal with a Mythotech to make a new type of drill. Grunnings now has a ten-year contract to look forward to. A messy nephew is hardly a cause for concern." Uncle Vernon said.

"Where are they drilling?" Harry asked.

"See the boy is already becoming more normal. This was just a hiccup pet." Vernon turned to Harry with a grin on his walrus mustache and tiny scales on his upper lip. Harry blinked the apparition away.

"They're drilling in the south west pacific far from land. Our drills must work underwater at extreme depths. Grunnings is making a mint. I'm going to rack up so many commissions." Vernon cheered as he rinsed off Harry.

"Do you think you'll be mentioned if they find oil? That could put your name further out." Harry asked.

"See pet he's becoming more normal every day. Now as our guests said last night 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn' cheers." Vernon said in a very British dialect.

Well uncle, I think I'm ready for a shower. Vernon let him through, and Harry quickly jumped into the shower. He'd never heard of his uncle's phrase or what it meant.

Half a day later and he was on the playground rapidly reading through Moby Dick. The story was a battle between man and the ultimate obsession. Man lost at the end destroyed himself. It was a lesson on both wale arcana and why obsessions can be dangerous.

He shut the book and let most of the information fall from his mind. He wanted to become a qi expert and immortal. Nothing in this world would stand in his way. Harry had already stepped upon the path of the qi expert. Before age twenty he'd reach platform level. But before age eleven he'd set his goal to reach the peak of refinement level.

The problem was cleanliness. Cultivation hammered the impurities from the body. If he wanted to get further, he'd need a way to clean himself discreetly after meditation.

"Look Duds isn't that your cousin, didn't you say shite himself this morning?" Piers asked in a superior tone.

Piers was here to bully him. If not for this reason he'd find another.

"I don't think it's a good idea to bother him, Dad wasn't mad at him for it." Dudley said.

"No, let's chase him until he pisses himself." Piers charged at Harry. Harry bent his legs and skipped forward. Every step seemed to carry his light body several meters.

Piers cut into a dead sprint behind him and Harry skipped forward again. It felt as if the bounds of gravity would release their hold on him, if he fought hard enough. Unfortunately, they snapped back just a few feet from the ground. He continued to skip around the playground trying to jump and gain more air. His max was a half a meter.

Harry looped around and spotted Piers. This was his chance to get back at him. For once he'd be the one doing the chasing.

As Harry ran Piers never looked heard a sound. Dudley shouted a warning, but it was too late. Harry smashed into Piers at full speed. A grin lit his face. Piers fell onto the gravel and skidded to a painful stop. His neck hit the lip of a slide and made a wet cracking sound. Harry met Dudley's terrified eyes.

Piers tried to get up and couldn't his neck had bent at an odd angle. Tears ran down the blond boy's face from either pain or terror. A clinical part of Harry reasoned it could be both. As his tormenter struggled futilely to rise, Harry realized he'd gone too far.

What had he done? It happened so quickly. All he wanted was a little pay back, some revenge. He wanted to knock Piers over and hurt him, but this was more than Harry bargained for.

He had to do something to fix this. He'd harmed a mortal for no reason. Piers had become Harry's first collateral.

Suddenly, something warm in Harry's chest flared and he felt as if everything would be ok. He reached down to do something when white light suddenly lanced from Harry's body. With a snap Piers' neck was back to normal. But Piers' eyes were glassy, and he wasn't breathing. Harry had fixed the broken neck as best as he understood how. Unfortunately, Piers didn't have magic of his own to assist in the healing.

He'd acted without thinking again. Piers the bully that chased him with Dudley was dead.

Harry waited in a chair much too large for him for a constable to question him. He'd done nothing since arriving other than sit and think. They left him alone there were plenty of eyewitnesses. Harry cursed himself. He was ten not five how could he have done something so foolish. Why had he trusted his feelings? Sure, he wanted to fix his mistake but what if he also wanted to get rid of Piers for good. Before today, he'd been chased by the boy maybe he killed him on purpose.

Emotions and feelings couldn't be trusted weren't they what caused everything. He was scared so he teleported to the roof, he was nervous when called on, so he turned his teacher's hair blue. Now all the attention was turned on him again. If Piers was still alive, it might not have been too bad. That feeling promised it'd fix Peers and it had in a way.

He'd used a power that wasn't cultivation. It was a power he didn't control. "Obliviate," he heard a voice whisper. The door to his waiting room opened and a man in red robes stepped forward. Harry didn't expect to see anyone in the robes of a puppeteer. Harry looked around not seeing the man's puppet.

"Little guy my name is Rusty Shackleford and I'm here under Ministry orders to cover this little altercation up. To do my job, I need to ask you a few questions. Are you of sound mind to answer?" Mr. Shackleford asked.

"What do you do for the ministry sir?" Harry asked.

"I'll be the one asking the questions young man." The man snapped. Harry went silent.

The man continued. "The diagnostic charms indicate your intent was to heal young man, but muggles don't often take well to healing magic. We've already erased every file on the boy and the higher ups obliviated everyone who found out your name. Before I send you home, can you tell me why the kid had to die."

"He was a bully. Unless you stood up to him or fled, he often demanded lunch money. If you refused, he'd steal your homework, break you stationary, or spit in your food. There are many who hated him. I just wanted to hurt him a little." Harry said.

"Did it feel good young man to hold all the power for once? Why did you bother trying to heal a muggle in the first-place young man?" Mr. Shackleford asked.

"I just wanted payback." Harry said.

"This is why you go to the authorities with your problems young man. If you'd told a teacher would Piers have died? Harry knew the answer to that.

"No sir, the teachers don't care. He would have kept bullying." Harry said.

The man frowned and wrote something on a piece of parchment. Before standing up.

"It's above my pay grade. Whoever is backing you has made sure none of us leave here with your identity. Have a good day young man."

As it was said no one remembered Piers. The day after the incident school was the same. There was a vacant desk where Piers had been, and Harry quickly realized why. Perhaps this was a service due to immortals. They removed the proof of the death of mortals. Nothing in the immortal realm was truly free. There was now a karma debt between himself and the ministry.

**Author's note**

**Thank you for reading up to this point. This story is more of an experiment with a cultivation system I'm trying out. If you have any suggestions leave a review or PM me. I know a lot of the plot was tied up quickly here and that was the point.**

**There are overreaching consequences for what happened, and I know a playground death is kind of jarring. I mentioned that Harry was a strong as a horse in the first stage of refinery. That strength is reflected into speed and Harry at age ten doesn't have much forethought or control.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Edited 04/24/2020**

Harry learned quickly that regret over murder ran deeper than stealing an extra piece of toast. He carried a weight on his chest. It remained a week after Piers' death. When he thought back on it, he couldn't figure out why he did it. He hadn't felt like himself after he read that book. Now that he questioned it, there were discrepancies.

Harry sat in Dudley's second bedroom generously given to him by Uncle Vernon. Petunia didn't protest, they had been acting strangly, but Harry didn't want to question them. He was too busy looking within.

At his desk, he wrote out instructions from the book. Every word came out exactly as he read them. This wasn't right, he didn't have a photographic memory and he still didn't. Like lightning he was struck with a realization. It was the book it was seared into his mind. He filled out ten journals complete with exact diagrams for acupuncture and alchemy techniques. The knowledge was now in the physical world and not just in his head. After reading his work, he realized that there was no character or conflict, these weren't stories.

His journals had more to do with textbooks than a story of any kind. Where did the story he read come from? Remnant Malik and his tale of rising from a slave to a powerful immortal existed like a fading dream. Only the information from the journals still existed and the feelings.

Harry tossed his pencil across the room implanting it in the wall. He groaned and rubbed his scalp. This was getting complicated. It took the passage of time for him to sense something was wrong. There was a single black thread wrapped around his qi. Where that thread went, he couldn't say but when it tugged Harry wanted to spread knowledge.

After writing the books strands from the thread separated from him and moved on to the books. After finishing his task his mind began to clear up a little more. As the memories of the story faded, he held on to the lessons. Karma bounds must be severed. Steel sharpens steel. And the most important lesson of all, power is freedom.

He tossed away his clothes and took a pack of body wipes from a brown sack. Then he placed a rubbish bag over his meditation space. Uncle Vernon had begun buying him things as of late. Another point of oddity from his relative that was quickly mirrored by aunt Petunia and his cousin Dudley. He didn't believe the karmic reason was the same. It must have had something to do with the flashes of scales. Harry had more important things to think about than his odd relatives.

The black thread could only be seen by Harry due to the fact it was attached to him. Harry was certain there were other threads of karma binding the Dursleys in some way. Then there was the fact that Harry felt the need to spread knowledge when he left the house. While the compulsion weakened, it wasn't gone.

When a cultivator reached the first stage refinery, they often took up a concept. This concept became their first magic. Some took up the concept of reincarnation, immortality, karma, and sometimes strength. These points quickly became obsessions. They were temporary Daos the qi expert learned in their formative years.

Normally, he'd have until the 9th stage of refinery before he chose a concept. Magic of another Dao could be used without binding oneself to that Dao. He hoped thinking about a Dao would keep his mind together when he left the house.

While in number 4 private drive his mind was relatively clear. The second he stepped outside private drive his mind would be scattered again.

He assumed the black karmic thread was the cause. It didn't take a genius to realize that the whoever attached the karmic thread to him meant him harm.

Harry began to meditate on the concept of severing. While refining his qi further. During his first meditation the karmic thread had guided his mind. Now he had to do everything himself.

His mind constantly grew bored of thinking about cutting things. Each time that happened he stopped what he was doing and picked up a new journal. This was not something for others to read. In the journal, he wrote down a series of altered meditation techniques. Ripping out his full core and filtering it through his body to purify it each time wasn't conducive to severing.

It was a clue to the Dao of whoever gave him this knowledge. Their Dao was related to reincarnation in some way. That ruled out Remnant Malik. His Dao was related to maintenance.

The knowledge affected him. He had expert knowledge in cultivation or at least enough information to alter his technique at the refinery stage.

An insane idea came to mind. Harry wrote it down and thought on it for an hour. It was mad maybe mad enough to work. He used his sixth sense to focus on his qi. A swirling ball of qi slowly spun entwining itself slowly with the black thread. Every time it left his body and returned it became more connected to the black thread. Harry focused on creating a blade from his willpower. With a thought his qi stopped moving.

The blade moved slicing the qi in two. Severing as a concept wasn't just a blade it had many meanings. In this case, he chose to cut out what impurities he could.

Harry opened his now blood shot eyes. He fell backwards and bile rose from his throat. His nose burned as it poured out. He felt something drip from his ears and brushed his lobe. Blood had poured from his ears from the severing. His severing was still going on he could feel his will continue to cut. Another force had taken over, it reacted to his will. His sixth sense took over completely and the physical world vanished.

For an indiscernible amount of time, he waited absent of sight, sound, taste, and smell. All he felt was pain. He had told some force to sever the impure from his qi and it did so with glee. This was the force from earlier when he tried to save Peers. What was it?

Harry opened his eyes. There were two points of qi in his body now. The one he had severed away and the one connected to the black thread. His severed qi was green without any pollution from impurities. That force had taken over for him when the pain became too much. Why had it done that? Like a boulder rolling down hill, once it started it couldn't be stopped. Now that he had used the power a second time, he could grasp it slightly. He knew it was there somewhere.

Harry hadn't rescinded the order to sever the impurities. To rise to the next stage of refinery, Harry needed to begin taking in the essence of heaven and earth passively. There was no need to take in a lot, a tiny amount would due. The more essence he purified at a time the higher level of refinery he would be.

By refining 100 unites of qi a cycle, he would be considered in the third stage of the refinery level. At that point his physical strength was considered equal to 3 horses. His qi would also begin to take over some of his bodily function.

"Harry come down here right now." Aunt Petunia demanded.

Harry stood up filth rolling off his body. Thankfully he had meditated on top of a rubbish bag. Harry quickly wiped down his body removing what filth he could. His hair was caked with the stuff and would need a wash before school. He looked at the clock. It was Saturday, his aunt would want him to take care of the garden. With his current strength it wouldn't take him long.

He put on some clothes and rushed downstairs. Despite the change in attitude from the Dursleys, he wasn't brave enough to keep them waiting.

"Harry wash your head in the sink its filthy," Aunt Petunia shrieked. "and take a seat."

Harry looked around to see a set of peculiar candles lit and a strange book in Uncle Vernon's hand. There was an odd smile on his uncle's face. Harry couldn't ignore this much longer. The Dursleys had something more wrong with them than their obsession with normalcy. Harry looked out the window to see the lawn had grown over an inch higher than was acceptable.

Why hadn't they ordered him to mow the lawn? The flower garden was becoming overrun with weeds. It was mid spring. Why would his aunt let her garden go like this? The flowers hadn't been watered lately by the look of things. Then again Harry hadn't gone to school in the past week and the Dursley's didn't seem to care.

Harry closed his eyes but could only see the karma thread attached to the qi within him. Using the knowledge sowed karma. It was a karma he could see only inside the house. The Dursley's karma was invisible to him.

He washed his hair in the sink and wiped most of the blood from his face. Petunia hadn't reacted to the blood at all. Something was wrong with the Dursleys and it might not have anything to do with himself. If an immortal was messing with mortals it was his duty to defend them. But it was the Dursleys. Should he care about them?

He shut the sink off and dried his hair and face with a dish rag. If he was going to do anything about it then he needed to get stronger quickly. Unfortunately, he had no essence crystals, spirit stones, or medical pills. Harry had knowledge suited for the reincarnation Dao. It could be altered for his own Dao but there were discrepancies. The further he traveled along his personal cultivation the less useful the knowledge he had would be.

Power was freedom, he couldn't see the thread before but after a week of being in the first refinery realm he could. Now that he knew it was there, he could act accordingly. Something about this house did most of the work. Karmic threads are invisible until the ascended realm unless he possessed a drop of ascended blood. Harry didn't and he was barely in the first refinery stage.

The more powerful he was the more options he'd have to deal with the problem. Tonight, he would take in more essence.

Once dry, he returned to the living room to see Vernon in his suit. He held a pamphlet in his hand with a shite eating grin on his face. Petunia was also dressed in her best even Dudley looked well dressed.

"Um, Uncle Vernon what's the occasion?" Harry asked. His Uncle's eyes were beginning to look a little fish like.

"A great man is coming to meet us to discuss Dudley's entry into The SS school for Bright Children. It's a very upstanding school for the future leaders of the world. Our Dudley is sure to get accepted. Yours truly is very important after all." Vernon said.

"Yes, our Dudley is going to be very important. If you play your cards right, you might get in to as a student worker. We can't have you rubbing elbows with our Dudley you understand." Petunia said.

She had the audacity to smile at him like it was the greatest compliment possible. It freaked him out more than her glares. He took a calming breath then relaxed. There was no need to draw attention to himself.

His face twitched as he smiled emulating her. Whatever this was did this in a week. It took longer for it to work on Petunia and Dudley than it did on Vernon. Harry felt something poking at his mind, but his qi protected him for now. He needed to increase his power quickly.

"I'm unworthy aunt Petunia, why don't I stay in Dudley's second bedroom. I'm not dressed for it." Harry defended.

If he could get away with being invisible to whatever it is that did this, he would.

"I'm sorry Harry but it's this or no education at all." Aunt Petunia quickly huffed.

So, cultivate full time without a break. Harry thought that was the best idea she'd ever had. He could stay under the houses protection and reach the next level in relative isolation.

"Agreed, if you need me, I'll be in my room being so quiet you won't mention I'm there." Harry said. Harry turned to retreat up the stairs when the door rang.

"Oh, it seems our visitor arrived why don't you open the door." Harry didn't want what was on the other side of that door to come in.

Harry couldn't detect a thing from his sixth sense. That wasn't a surprise his sixth sense range was couple of inches without meditation. His hand shook when he turned the nob. Something powerful was beyond this door.

The door opened revealing a man in an outdated suit and a top hat. He looked like a captain of industry from the 1920s. His clothes were grey, and his eyes were alien. There was something off about the man's eyes. His pupils weren't shaped quite right. There were strange lines on the man's neck. If he looked closer, he could see tiny fish scales.

"Harry don't be rude let our guest in. We are the Dursleys the boy in front of you is our nephew he is interested in your indentured tuition plan right Harry." Uncle Vernon said.

Harry blinked and knew he wouldn't leave the house until he reached the 3rd stage. Instead of answering he nodded and smiled large enough for his cheeks to hurt.

The man smirked and stepped inside.

"Please come in Mr. Capper. This is my wife Petunia and my son Dudley. He can't wait to join your illustrious school." Vernon said.

"I'm sure," Capper said as he raised an eyebrow at Harry's retreating form.

"Your nephew doesn't seem interesting in going to my illustrious school. Why is that?" Mr. Capper asked.

"The boy is lazy like his parents. I'm sure if you put him to work, he'll grow out of it." Petunia said with a sniff.

"Where are his parents? Surely they'd want to see me?" Mr. capper asked.

"Dead they died in a drunken care accident." Petunia said.

"Madam, your lying, tell me the truth, I'm a friend." Mr. Capper demanded.

"Well I shouldn't but it's for my Dudum's future." A manic grin spread over Petunia's face. Harry didn't believe she could look smugger.

"His mother always thought she was better than me. My parents thought she was better. She went to a special school for gifted children. My sister was a witch. She married a wizard and," Petunia covered her mouth and let out a giggle.

Harry could feel his heart beating hard enough against his chest to hurt his ribs. Rules be damned he'd kill these mortals. The only thing staying his hand was his desire to know something true about his parents.

"Just a year after her freak son was born a dark wizard did the world a favor. He broke into her house, murdered her rich wizard husband, and I hope he tortured her to death." Her smile had crawled up her face and tears of laughter poured from her eyes.

Harry felt tears fall down his cheeks. This was the true Petunia he knew it. The bitter disgusting monster that she was on the inside.

"Then, I told her son they died in a drunken care accident. I tossed him in a cupboard for practically his entire life. And now he's going to be a servant in school while my Dudums is treated like royalty." She practically moaned.

Harry shook, he'd never felt this way before. Crack!

The handrail ripped off from his shaking. The wooden railing fell with a crash as Harry turned and walked up the stairs.

"Young man don't you want to go to my school and get an education." Mr. Capper asked.

"I decline, get out of my bloody home." Harry said in a voice bordering on hysterical.

He needed to meditate. Harry needed power, if he acted now, he'd lose his home. If he killed them, what then? He hadn't cared about Piers in the moment, but he did now. Would he kill them and realize it was a mistake a week later? Would it fester into him and make him like his aunt?

Hours passed leaving Harry alone with the essence around him. He took a tiny amount and severed it of what impurities he could before absorbing it. Sever the impurities integrate the essence add it to his qi then sever once more. He wanted it; the pain distracted him from his thoughts. His mother was a witch and his father a wizard. Tears fell down Harry's face. Did he have other family? Why didn't they want him? Who was he? Sever the impurities then absorb the essence, sever once it's in the body, and sever when the essence merges with his qi, that was a cycle. When he was strong enough, he'd sever his bound with the Dursleys.

**To my readers. This might be a little fast but in story it only happened in a few hours. As for Harry this was the worst way for him to find out about his parents. Its going to mess him up for a while. You can probably guess why Harry can see the karma thread inside the house. Mr. Capper isn't directly against Harry or Petunia and doesn't raise the wards defenses. The black thread is more apathetic but directly harmful. Hopefully this chapter answered a few questions. **

**As for the Cultivation levels. They're my own based on various novels and a will eternal and I will seal the heavens. The I'll explain the stages. **

**Mortal Realm **

**Refinery, Foundry, Core, System, Platform, Specialized, Master, Demi Ascended **

**Immortal Realm **

**Ascended, Burning Soul, Divine Trials, Alpha Spiral, Omega Continuum, To be announced a**


	3. Chapter 3

**Edited 04/25/2020**

For a month he meditated. His mind was blank no thought or feelings passed through it. He only reacted to the essence around him and the pain. Sever the impurity thrice and add the purified essence to his spiritual sea. Blood flowed from his ears, eyes, and nose. Filth excreted from his pours and caked his flesh. The air in his room was stale and rotten. Mold covered the walls and Harrys clothes were rotting. He was a machine that refined essence.

His eyes snapped open aglow with green qi. The glow soon ended as hardened filth fell off his face. Like a bird breaking out of his shell he was raw. More filth fell away as he stood up.

At this moment, he had far more qi in his body than ever before. There was enough qi in his body to affect the world around him. Harry waved his arm and the filth fell away.

He pulled an oversized shirt from a drawer and wiped the filth from a mirror. Through the mirror he saw the state of his body. His ribs shown through his skin, but he didn't look emaciated. His qi had fed his body instead of mortal food. It still wasn't healthy. He needed to eat soon, or he might die. That would just make his aunt too happy.

Harry glanced at the filth covered journals. His qi empowered will pulled the filth and mold from the journals. He rubbed at his scar feeling something odd but paid it no mind. His joints popped about

Even without meditating, he could feel himself absorb essence. At some point during his meditation his body learned how to draw upon essence naturally. He'd severed essence so often it was like breathing. Every few minutes, he completed a cultivation cycle. The passive cultivation was a sign Harry was at the cusp of the second stage of refinery. It was impossible to break through with meditation alone.

He opened his door and watched a layer of filth fall to the floor. After shutting it silently, he made his way downstairs. The more qi he gathered the stronger he'd become. His power of severing had greatly enhanced his cultivation. But if he didn't eat soon, he'd die.

It was midnight and not a Dursley was in the house. Meditation didn't always increase his perception of world around him. There was a coolness to his mind, a balance. For a month it felt like he had died and become a machine that could only refine and absorb essence.

"Oh, what's this?" Harry said in a rough voice.

Harry took a plate from the fridge and tossed its contents in a skillet. The plate was filled of raw steaks in a marinade. It was probably dinner for the Dursleys. Harry poured himself a glass of water and drank it down. Then he moved on to a new carton of orange juice. After drinking it down, he flipped the steaks.

"Why thank you for the food Aunt and Uncle." Harry said.

He flicked his hand causing the carton to crash against the wall. The top shot off and the carton squished itself flat. The wall seemed unbothered by Harry's actions.

Harry ate the meat slowly each bite was armed with severing qi. Once full, he rummaged through the living room finding a few quid in the couches and on the tele. He flipped through a bible and took the money stored within.

Above the fireplace in a place of honor, he found a strange book that made his sixth sense go haywire. He lit a campfire and searched through the silverware for a set of tongs. Pushing his will against the book was weird. He couldn't touch it, so the tongs. The second the tongs touched the book they began to rust. He quickly tossed the book in the fire. The tongs crumbled into dust.

After ten minutes the book hadn't begun burning. That wasn't a good sign. He reached into the flames with two metal spatulas. There were many ways to get rid of a book. Harry felt something try to latch on to him only for his qi to sever it. This book was machine printed so it wasn't that archaic. That didn't mean the information within wasn't cursed or possibly sentient.

"What have they gotten themselves into?" Harry asked. It would've been smart to get out while he could.

Steel sharpens steel. He needed to find someone to learn from the journals. That was what the black thread wanted. If he was to reach the next stage, he needed steel to sharpen himself against. For that the knowledge of cultivation needed to spread far and wide.

He broke into master bedroom and searched for jewelry to pawn or any petty cash. Perhaps, he could find one of the local opium addicts and ask directions to the nearest fence. It was shameful that he didn't have a bag of holding or he could have stripped the room bare. Harry made sure to go to Dudley's bedroom and flip the mattress. All the money Dudley had taken over the years was stored here. Dudley wanted for nothing; he took the money for fun.

Harry walked away with a good amount. Not that it mattered he'd probably only eat a meal ever week or two. He didn't really need much in the way of shelter or sleep. Cloths were an issue. He needed to dress well enough to blend in but not well enough to stick out.

After a second search, he packed the best of his findings in a backpack and left. The moon caught his attention when he shut the front door behind him. It felt weird, the moon was as disturbing as the book inside. Before he could focus on the moon something tugged at his chest directing him in a different direction. Harry felt his consciousness slip away as the thread tugged.

The whistle of a train knocked him back to lucidity. He needed to find someone to give the journals to. It was a chain letter. Once he read the contents of the journals, he had to copy the letter and give it to a new person. The sun peaked through the train windows illuminating the dark train. The feeling tugged gently on Harry's divided spiritual sea; he didn't have much time before he blacked out again.

He walked through the train. People were seated reading newspapers and books. He found an older gentleman by himself smoking a pipe. Harry could have chosen anyone to offload his journals to, but this man felt right. The black thread tugged at him eagerly.

Harry approached the old man journals in hand. He waited patiently as the man ignored him.

The old man continued to puff on his pipe. Looking away from Harry. Some of the other passengers started to turn their attention to the old man.

"Sir you aren't fooling anyone. My name is Harry Potter, could you read my book and tell me what you think? I'm an aspiring author." Harry said.

"Boy why are you bothering me. I'm not the only active reader on this train. I'm sure another person would be better." Harry had no idea either, but this was the guy. The black thread demanded it.

"You look well read. Are you an editor or an author yourself perhaps?" The old man sucked on his pipe and let out a sigh.

"How does one look well read. My pipe perhaps, I'm an author. My name Fred Cleveland." Another puff of smoke left the man's pipe. "Fine, I'll read your novel." Mr. Cleveland said. Harry smiled; peer pressure was the best pressure.

Outside of his home Harry could only feel the black thread, the tugging stopped as the old man started to read the journal. The people slowly dropped their gazes and returned to their own business. Reaching into his backpack, he placed the other nine journals beside the old man.

A smile covered Harry's face. The black thread stopped its tugging. The old man was the next step. He was an actual author and would most likely rewrite the books and pass them on.

The train began to slow, and Harry got off. The attention of the black thread was far away. Harry traveled down the back streets of London.

There were plenty of addicts in the grey stone back alleys. But there weren't any that he wanted. Harry was after a type.

"Hey kid come over here, I have something that will make you feel good." Harry turned to see a man with a bottle of pills in his hand. The man was larger than Uncle Vernon.

Harry took a breath relaxing in the feeling of a clear mind. The thread still tugged at him slightly, but it wasn't anxious. Now that his sixth sense was more developed, he could tell the first book was general. It was the toe in the door of this world. That didn't matter to Harry anymore.

"Mister, do you know where I can find a fence? I have some jewelry I need to offload. A man who sells untraceable guns would be nice." The large man smiled.

"Little mate you sound like loads of fun. Whose arse do you want to pop a cap into? Is it a school bully?" Harry frowned and narrowed his eyes. There was glint coming from the man's jacket, the barrel of a revolver perhaps.

Harry knew he was roughly as strong as 1.5 horses. Sweat began to bead from his back as he decided to do something. His knee bent and the older man's eyes widened, and his hand moved for the gun.

Harry took off like a bullet. The gun was halfway out of the man's jacket when Harry drove his elbow into the man's solar plexus. Two steps and a turn brought him beside the man. He reached out and snatched the gun. Knowledge would be useful, but he wanted the gun for free. There was always another thug.

The thug began to puke a stream of blood and his face went red, blue, and then purple. He'd only seen this type of gun in cowboy movies. Of those he'd only seen quick glances. The man began to shake gasping for breath that never came. He spat something that looked very much like a piece of his lung. Oops!

Harry had only planned to knock the breath out of him. Damn, he accidently killed another mortal. At least he didn't really know this guy. He didn't really know Piers either. Maybe that was why he didn't feel bad anymore about killing him. Harry's mind still felt balanced and cool. His spiritual sea was calming it was gentle sea a little splash like the accidental murder of a mortal didn't bother it. Waves crashed all the time like the fact his parents were a witch and wizard. His aunt received sexual pleasure from their deaths and from neglecting Harry, was a massive wave.

While the man choked to death, Harry went through his belongings taking the bottle of oxy and anything else he could find. He'd need to offload soon. His backpack was getting full. A drug dealers' weapon was just the ticket for dealing with the Dursleys. Karma must always be severed.

Still he felt a little bad about killing the man. He might have been a dirty drug dealer who'd sell addictive drugs to children, but he was still human. Harry shook his head; he'd probably saved the lives of dozens.

Bang!

Harry felt red hot pain in his chest. His body spun around giving him a look at his attacker. Another man this on looked emaciated his body was shaking. When Harry landed the junky quickly took Harry's backpack.

Qi quickly spread through his body. Harry opened his mouth and yelled as the qi poured through him. The wound began to close as Harry's body began to heal. This was a breakthrough.

His body glowed green as he finally broke into the 2nd stage.


	4. Chapter 4

**Edited 04/25/2020**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Harry Potter. **

**Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed. I'm able to type more during this time than I normally would. I'll keep posting for at least the rest of the week. Then it will turn into one chapter a week. **

New power from the second stage ripped through his body healing his wounds. He ripped off his blood-stained shirt and wiped what filth he could from his body. His blood was everywhere. It stained the pothole covered foundation of London's back alleys. A small spray even covered the wall behind him. Along with the blood was the hole in a building.

His deft hands dug through the concrete wall until he grasped something metallic. Hot metal scalded his fingers as he ripped the bullet out. The tips of his fingers had been burned white with angry red skin growing around the burns. In his hand was a flattened silver jacket wrapped hunk of brass. He pocketed the bullet.

Harry froze as someone stepped into range. The person reached for his gun and Harry moved. He took a step backwards sending his body shooting 1.8 meters back and landed on his back foot. He twisted and drove his elbow upward striking a constable in his bullet proof vest.

Just as the 188cm tall man's feet left the ground Harry grabbed the man's knee dashed forward arresting the man's momentum. The man crashed to the ground out of breath but alive.

Harry thrust his fist in the air in victory. He'd managed not to kill one.

Just as the man unholstered his gun Harry kicked it away. The man started coughing as he glared at Harry in a mix of confusion and anger. Harry smiled apologetically. Then he took the man's jacket and gun.

"Sorry constable, it's for a good cause." Harry looked the gun over, before spotting the safety. "I don't suppose you'd be interested in teaching me how to use it." The man continued to glare at Harry while wheezing for breath.

"I'll take that as a no. Well sir, thanks for your help. Don't worry you probably won't see me again." Harry dashed down an alley just as he sensed another constable around a corner.

Harry put on the gas going into a full sprint. He saw a ledge up above and jumped for it. His hands easily gripped the stone before he kicked off the building. He felt the air whistle past his ears, and he felt weightless. When he arrived on the alcove of the next building over, he rolled over on it.

After his second jump, he was two stories over the back alley. Up above he was safe as the constables continued their search. It was dark before Harry started moving again. Harry bent low and jumped his legs kicked out as his momentum ceased and gravity took over. He went from the alcove to the roof of a three-story building. Despite the rush to his heart and the flailing of his legs, he barely felt it when he landed. Harry held his hand to his chest. His heart pounded loud enough for the constables to hear down below.

It was by rooftop; he made his way to some apartments and took their fire escape down. In the dark he began to make a run for private drive.

Harry had gained a lot of run experience in his life from being chased. This was the first time running became a form of travel. It took him roughly half an hour to run 48km. Harry took a step and felt cold air on his foot. He looked down to see his shoe split open like the mouth of a puppet his white socks the tongue. He took a step with his other foot and felt the same thing.

He reached a hand in his pocket and heard cloth tear. Cold air hit his thigh as his jeans tore from thigh to knee. When he reached for the gun his shirt gave way before falling into tatters. Dudley's hand-me-downs weren't built for hard living.

Under the cover of night, he returned home. From below the second floor he leapt up hanging on to a window seal. Slowly, his window opened by his own hand friction. It was a rather warm night, so no condensation had appeared yet.

Harry crawled into his room and put on a new set of cloths. He opened the door to his room quietly. This wasn't the first time he'd snuck around his house. In his younger years, it was the only way to ensure he ate enough to survive. Only, he didn't hear the snoring Dursleys. He heard chanting and incense in the air. Sea breeze if he wasn't mistaken. It was Aunt Petunia's least favorite scent.

He sampled the fragrance and realized it was salty like sea air. The chant sounded strange and guttural. Harry gripped the sides of his head as the words echoed but never went away. They added on top of each other as if he'd heard them each at different times at the same time. The words held no frame of reference. Harry pulled his hands away and saw them painted crimson with blood. And the words continued to mount on top of each other forming something Harry didn't understand.

Harry pulled the gun free and squeezed the trigger. He couldn't fire it. With insight drawn from desperation, he found the safety and turned it off.

Click!

Click!

Click! Click! Click! Click!

Harry dropped the cylinder then saw it was fully loaded. He slammed the clip back inside and pulled back on the hammer. Now it was right, he'd stop the chanting.

He pulled the trigger preparing for the sound.

Click!

With a sigh he flicked the safety back on and holstered the gun. Whatever this was it messed with firearms. He took a step down the stairs and tossed the gun at Uncle Vernon. The gun tumbled through the air before hitting the chubby man in the face. His lips split apart, and his teeth shattered.

None of his relatives moved. They remained seated chanting. Harry swept over them with his sixth sense and felt something off. There was something missing. He had no idea what it was only its absence mattered.

He looked over to see Uncle Vernon joining in with the chant. His ruined face didn't stop him. There was no pain in his eyes or life. Harry found a dish rag and gagged Dudley.

Harry could feel the pounding in his head grow worse with each word. He smashed Vernon's knee into ruin sending the fat man to the floor. Another kick sent the fat man on his back. Harry glared down at Vernon then stomped his face turning his jaw into pulp.

"This should have felt amazing. It was my revenge my severing of karma with you for all time. Killing you three like this feels like a favor. The scale is uneven."

Harry kicked the couch Dudley sat. The ten-year-old fell over with it. His cousin tumbled and slid out of the room.

Harry locked on to the book he tried to burn. It hovered in the air floating menacingly. Harry threw a punch charged with qi. His blow was met by a blue barrier. The book had protections of its own. Clenching his fists Harry delivered a flurry of blows knocking the book against a wall. "You will undo what you did to the Dursleys. I want my revenge." Harry yelled at the book.

While he was distracted something hit him from the side. Harry smacked it away feeling bone and flesh tear from his blow. He turned to see aunt petunia on the floor with her face torn open. Her teeth were clearly visible through her cheek. She continued to speak in the strange prayers of the book.

The house was starting to shake as the book vibrated in the air. Books flew from the shelves pelting Harry as he approached the book. He came here for answers and clothes, but he'd have to look elsewhere. Broken glass hit him in the back opening his skin as a pot smashed against his face. A force grabbed ahold of Harry and flung him against a wall.

Uncle Vernon stood up. Strange fish scales covered his face as the book floated to him. The lower jaw of a trout grew where his lower jaw had been. "Boy you'll pay for your freakishness. You'll wish you never left the cupboard."

"No, the scales will be balanced." Harry yelled and then quietly spoke. "I don't care if this is you or not uncle."

Harry watched the book land on Uncle Vernon's hand. The pages began to turn, and something poured from the book into Vernon. A sense of danger overcame Harry and he moved.

He leapt kicking the bottom of Uncle Vernon's hand knocking the book in the air. With one of the frying pans that hit him, he knocked the book through one of the windows. Just as the book exited the widow Uncle Vernon's hands wrapped around Harry's neck.

Harry fell, and Vernon's knees fell on his shoulders. His feet kicked as he tried to bring his strength to bear but there was no room. Vernon's girth held him flat to the ground. Harry twisted his shoulders but couldn't bring enough force.

He couldn't move blood dripped down from Vernon's ruined face. Harry struggled and moved only for Petunia and Dudley to hold his legs down. Vernon continued to choke him as his struggles grew weaker.

Harry felt his eyes and veins bulge out. He felt like his arteries would burst. They were going to kill him. He would die, because he came back here. This place the only home he'd ever known.

If he stayed the same, he'd die here and now. This place may have been where he lived but it was never a home.

Harry's hand lifted off the ground and his finger pointed up. Green qi glowed at the tip of his finger dim at first then blinding. The house shook and rumbled as Harry unleashed his first magic.

"Sever," Harry mouthed.

Chapter end

Next chapter Sever the Dursleys

Tell me what you think with a review. I'll reply today if you have any questions.


	5. Chapter 5

**Edited 04/28/2020**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter**

It was summoned by him. A green ball of qi hovered in the air crackling with small bolts of uncontrolled energy. It hovered losing energy waiting for his order. Only when he reached out and demanded to be be saved did it move. Suddenly, it moved. It ripped through Vernon's body leaving behind a fist sized hole. It floated upward peaceful like the eye of a hurricane. Only when Harry decided that Dudley was next did it move. It struck down at Dudley blasting through skull and brain matter. The orb spun as Harry turned his attention to Petunia, a tentacle shot from its whole skewering Petunia through the chest. Each kill seemed to increase the orb's qi instead of decreasing it. The orb must have fed off the essence of its victims. After killing three mortals it had more qi than ever. He had no more targets but there were still so many things to sever. It shot across the street cutting until it was starved of new essence and dissipated.

Harry opened his eyes slowly. Everything was blurry, his sixth sense was barely functioning, and his throat hurt. He looked to see Uncle Vernon's corpse on top of him. The dead man's hands had fallen aside after upon death. Using his elbows, he slowly pulled himself out from under the corpses.

He looked over the scene and shook his head. Dudley had a Nintendo upstairs. After a quick shower he sat himself in Dudley's room and turned on the system.

As he played, his thoughts moved to the Dursleys. Harry wouldn't call himself happy about the Dursley's deaths but at least they weren't a problem anymore.

Over the next couple hours his qi recovered. His damaged throat hurt less, and strength returned to his limbs. After using all his qi in a single attack his body began adapting. The next time he used the spell, it would be easier.

Harry changed out the game moving to the next one in Dudley's collection.

He was growing accustomed to breaking rules. Harry hadn't experienced something like this before. Playing games wasn't allowed they were another thing only for Dudley. Now that they were dead and couldn't stop him, he felt like the scales were finally balancing.

As he played, Harry found himself relaxed. Time ticked away until dawn. It wouldn't be long before someone investigated the Dursley's disappearance. He squeezed his hand feeling the controller shatter.

His mind was a pot threatening to boil over. Inside he was a mix hate, regret, joy, and sorrow. This should have been a moment of triumph, but he didn't know what to do. He wanted to know more about his parents but his link to them was dead.

Last night didn't play out how it should have. If his uncle hadn't messed with cultish nonsense maybe things would be different. Harry had an option he was an immortal with a ton of esoteric knowledge burned into his skull. While he searched through the mess in his head, he sat down and played a game.

He flipped through his journal refreshing himself with what he knew about the Dao of puppetry.

An hour later, he made his way to Aunt Petunia's body. He knew a magic like the dangerous Dao of reincarnation. The Dao of puppetry ran dangerously close to the Dao of reincarnation. Harry knew the basics. He hoped he knew enough to raise his aunt. He took a kitchen knife from the dishwasher and cut her blouse open.

Strange symbols covered her corpse. Harry shivered at their appearance. Small fish scales grew around them. He reached out and touched one of the symbols. Pain lanced up his arm as his flesh sizzled against the cold rune. A layer of skin turned black and fell off his hand.

Mixing Daoist magic with whatever this was couldn't be good. Then again was there much to work with anyway. His skin healed slowly over the red irritated spots on his fingertips.

Harry carved strange symbols in Petunia's chest. When each symbol was completed, he pricked his finger with a sewing needle and let the blood drop in each carving. Harry wracked his brain for the next step. There were salves he needed for the process. It would be easier, if he could store the body for a few years and let his magic take hold. That wasn't an option.

If he had time, he could store her organs in a jar to improve his control over the puppet. Petunia would be raised as a weak undead with minimal intelligence. He could ask her questions, but she wouldn't have any emotion, personality, or creativity.

He checked the clock when he finished preparations. It was five in the afternoon. Just preparing Petunia to be raised had taken more than twelve hours. The bodies were starting to stink.

Harry thrust his hand forward and released five green strings of qi. They attached themselves to the carvings on Petunia and her body began to shake. Her head turned to one side then the other. She rose from the ground and blinked. Harry saw more life in her eyes than he'd thought possible. She took one look at her husband and son then shrieked.

"Quiet," Harry ordered, and her mouth shut. At least that worked, he would have been up the creak if it didn't. He reasoned his talent with puppetry was greater than average. She rose and charged him mouth shut.

"Stop," Harry whispered. He stepped forward on the blood encrusted carpet.

"Your son was a fat piece of shit who bullied me every chance he had. Your husband was a fat tub of lard more interested in feeding into your bigotry than being a man. Now you're my slave and there is nothing you can do to free yourself." Harry smiled at Petunia and she couldn't disguise her fear.

"Clean up this mess and act normal. If anyone asks, what could you say to convince them to go away?" His words felt villainous to his lips. Each a callous blow that he knew struck with critical force.

Petunia opened her mouth shaking. The strings that bound her to his will shook a sign his control was weak. "I would tell them Vernon left me because I threatened to divorce him. He took Dudley and left for Asia. They would believe it." Petunia said.

"Very good, you'll tell them exactly that." Harry said. Acting in charge was exhausting. After this he'd meditate and restore his qi.

"What did you do to my Vernon and son?" Harry thought of all the nightmares, punishment for accidental magic, and the beatings. He wouldn't lie but he wouldn't be gentle either.

"Your husband brought a cursed book into your home and this was the result."

"Why can't you bring them back like me?" Petunia asked. Harry remembered a certain threat Vernon made once and the lye in the shed.

"I could bring them back, but it wouldn't be them." Harry pointed to his head. "They're too brain damaged. Toss them in the tub aunt Petunia. There is some lye in the shed, dump it over their bodies. I'll return in a few hours to shatter their bones. We can burry what doesn't go down the drain in the garden." Harry said. This felt good, like an actual balancing of the scales.

"You're a monster we fed you, put a roof over your head, and this is how you repay us." Petunia shrieked. Her voice was cut short when Harry pulled on her strings.

"If I'm a monster you made me one. I hope the last nine years was worth it. You have an eternity of slavery to look forward to. Oh, and you're not allowed to kill yourself or cause self-harm. You aren't allowed to hurt anyone that doesn't try to kill you first." Harry said. Harry clapped his hands. "What are you waiting for get to work." There was more work to do than just raising Petunia.

He stepped out of the house and stared at the car. The Dursleys only had one car. Harry had to wonder would Vernon leave with the car or not. Harry was more than willing to drive into a lake. But Petunia would need to it get supplies to repair the house. As he looked at number four private drive, he thought about tearing down some walls for a training room.

There was no time like the present. Harry leapt forward and dashed with an elbow. He spun delivering a knee stepped back and delivered a series of powerful punches to invisible enemies. In his mind, he was fighting a fellow qi expert. He moved about getting faster as his mental enemy's movement became sharper. His strength was equal to 2.2 horses. He was growing stronger by the day. In a few more months he'd be in the 3rd stage of refinery.

Neighbors on private drive were nosy but none watched now. It was dark around seven at night. Harry sensed something was happening inside and pulled at the strings. Petunia would be frozen in place until Harry reached the bathroom.

He arrived to see Petunia seconds away from diving into the slurry of lye and flesh. Harry let out a sigh then tugged on the strings connecting her. She was made to walk away.

"This is what happens when you disobey. Clean the house for the rest of the night." Harry closed the door to the second bathroom and opened a window to let the fumes pour out.

The next morning Harry took a shovel and crushed the remaining brittle bones amongst the brown sludge in the tub. With some healthy application of draino he was able to get the sludge down the drain.

He stepped down to the stairs to see Petunia his cupboard. Harry thought about making that her new room but tossed the idea aside. As fun as revenge was there's work to do and a puppet didn't sleep. Petunia had ripped up the carpet and made a trip to the hardware store. She was busily putting down a new floor while Harry updated his journal.

Just as he turned a page his journal the doorbell rang. With a sigh Harry closed his journal and went to the door to open it. On the other side of the door was Mr. Capper. The cane in the man's hand really brough out his 1920s captain of industry image. In reality the man gave off more of a cult leader vibe.

"Hello young man, may I come in, it seems your relatives have misplaced their prayer book." The man held up a copy of the book with a fist sized hole ripped through it. "Do you understand what I'm saying, you little shite?"

The man moved swiftly smashing the end of his cane against Harry's face. Harry's head fell to the side before the man hit him again for good measure. When the cane came for a third hit Harry caught it.

With the cane in his hand Harry was able to get a measure of Mr. Capper's strength. He was roughly one and a half times as strong as a human. The man struggled to get his cane, but it didn't budge from Harry's hand.

"You infidel wizard let go of my cane." Harry smiled because he could feel it. Now that the book was dead it had no more power here.

A sense of danger swept through him and he dove to the side. Whip like tentacles flew out from within Mr. Capper's suit. Harry's eyes widened when he realized he'd been ignoring reality. The suit the man wore was a collection of black tentacles.

Just behind the man were vans full of cultists in salesman uniforms. The stepped out of the vans and left for each door carrying their strange books. Mr. Capper straightened up.

"I thought before that you were just a dumb infidel. But now I know that isn't the case. You will never be part of the faithful. I declare you apostate. I wouldn't leave this house if I were you." Harry couldn't help but wonder why this cultist didn't escalate. Harry grabbed one of the golf clubs near the door.

Harry swung it at Mr. Capper's face. Only for the tentacles to move to block and attack. Harry twisted around the attack. His qi was singing something about this guy made Harry want to kill him.

Harry brought his hand up and produced two green spheres. He decided to name these spells Sever All. The two orbs rotated around Harry ready to sever anything that got close. The suit formed a set of spider's legs that lifted the Mr. Capper into the air. He hovered there as the limbs yanked him forward.

This was the first time he consciously used the sever all spell. He pointed his finger at Mr. Cappers head and the green orb shot forward. Tentacles bunched up in front of the cultists face as the orb hit. Severed black tentacles fell on the ground only to quickly regrow.

"This is the power of worship the gift of a god's love." His orb returned to hover next to the first orb. Harry restored its qi while the cultist closed the distance.

"No god answered me in my time of need. I was afraid and willing, but no one came." Harry moved forward and slammed his golf club into the cultists mass of defensive tentacles. One of the orbs lurched forward and extended hundreds of green tentacles. They quickly pried open the black tentacles. The spider legs slammed down onto Harry only for his other orb to form a hovering shield.

"The Gods give our lives meaning. Without them we'd live without a purpose." The cultist opened his mouth as his neck elongated. His teeth had become fangs.

Harry's fist shot forward with the full power of his cultivation base. The blow sunk the cultist's head in before its body flipped over.

"A wrench has a purpose should we have lobotomized you and bend you to task. Truly that is the epitome of happiness. Don't worry I also have a purpose for you." Harry caught up to the cultist to see its skull rapidly healing. One of the orbs shot down.

Just when the creature's head reformed the green ball shot through it. The sever all pulped the creature's skull.

Mr. Capper died but Harry's sixth sense was still going haywire. Harry dodged to the side as the tentacles struck out. Before he could act the tentacles quickly detached from the corpse and began to crawl away.

Before Harry could stop them, the tentacles crawled into a sewer drain and vanished. Harry looked around to see no one outside. Through a window he saw another door to door salesman who looked exactly like Mr. Capper. They had the same cane, the same suit, and the same smile. Harry looked at the body to see a different face.

From their battle chunks asphalt were missing from the road. Whatever this was it was spreading quickly. Harry was just one qi expert and his reserves were bone dry. He couldn't kill them all.

"I'll stop you kill your god and bathe in his blood." Harry yelled out before turning back to the number four.

It was time to ask Petunia questions about his parents. He needed to get the wizards involved going at this alone won't work.

**Chapter end **

**Tell me what you think with a review. I'll reply to them today if I can.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Edited 04/28/2020**

Two months had passed since his battle with the Capper creature. The neighborhood was a ghost town. All the houses on the street had been abandoned even Ms. Fig was gone.

Petunia had taken over the duty of feeding the cats. She was busy now trimming their claws and cutting the burs from their coats. Using the funds left from Vernon's account she paid the water, electric, and food bills.

No police came to investigate the disappearances. Families didn't move into the empty houses. And the potholes in Private drive weren't repaired. Harry hadn't seen a car pass by their street since the mass disappearance.

The body on the street rotted there but no scavengers approached it.

In two months, Harry was able to raise his cultivation base to the midway point of refinery's second stage. His current method of cultivation wasn't conducive to rapid advancement. The knowledge he had was based on reincarnation not severing.

What he needed was a localized essence well. He wasn't yet desperate enough to make one. The sacrifice of hundreds of lives was against his morals. What he needed to do was sow karma and then reap it. With that in mind he had an idea.

"I don't see why I have to be your shofar." Aunt Petunia muttered.

"I'm too small to reach the peddles and running the distance to the Surrey Police Station would ruin my clothes." Harry said.

"We have no income every quid we spend is gone forever." Petunia reminded him.

"You could always use your nights to earn coin as a customer service rep. Its honest work." Harry replied. In the back of his mind, he had plans to start his own customer service union using corpse puppets. With the secret of cultivation spreading as it surely was, he needed to jump on it.

"I've filled out some applications, but I have no work experience. I can't even gain weight and go on welfare." Petunia complained.

She parked in visitor parking and turned the car off to save fuel. With the icy runes carved in her body from the cult the summer sun had little effect. This close to her Harry felt chilly.

"Then find someone you like kill him and I'll raise them as a puppet. You have my permission to kill them. Don't damage the brain or leave any evidence behind. Check for security cameras and avoid them whenever possible. If you are caught, then self-destruct." Harry ordered.

"I'm not human anymore at all. I'll be like this forever." Petunia said.

"Oh no poor you you're immortal, inexhaustible, and possess your full personality. Truly the gods aren't fair." Harry said.

"You don't have to act like that." Petunia protested.

"No, I have to actively try. Don't worry, I'll get better, it'll become natural." Harry retorted.

Harry walked into the police station looking around until he saw a familiar face. An officer walked in with a new firearm on his belt. He looked down carrying a tray of coffee with him. Harry approached the constable.

"Hello sir, I'm Harry Potter, I was hoping you could help me." Harry said.

The man turned to him. In moments the officer's eyes widened. Harry knew the man recognized him and he wanted to play off that.

"I have something to confess. I would prefer to do so privately." Harry knew he couldn't take a large group. More than a single person's attention on him would be too much.

Minutes later Harry was seated across from the constable. The man took out a tape recorder and placed it on the table.

"This is to ensure we're both honest. You may begin whenever you are ready." The constable said.

"Officer Brady, my name is Harry Potter and I am a wizard." The officer quirked his brow when Harry lifted a finger. Three green orbs of sever all appeared rotating around his fingertip. Instead of glowing brightly Harry had them dim themselves. At his command one stretched out and cut a paper-thin line in the steel table. After three cuts he pulled a triangle from the table.

"Don't be alarmed this is merely what I am. There are many of us in the mother land. We even have a rather famous boarding school. I'm afraid what I am has little to do with why I'm here. To tell this story properly this is the minimum you must understand." Harry said. "I am a wizard and a British citizen. I was born Harry James Potter in saint Mungos Hospital." Harry said.

The officer's mouth was wide open. He closed it lit a fag and sucked deeply.

"Is there no magical law enforcement of any kind? There must at least be a specialist unit for this kind of situation." Officer Brady said.

"Of course, there must be, and they exist, but this isn't a magical problem. It has nothing to do with my reaction when you startled me in that back alley." Harry said.

"My ribs have only just mended. Lad you have a mean elbow, are all wizards that strong?" Officer Brady questioned.

"It's complicated, I'll send you a journal that will set you on the path to obtaining similar strength. We can make a gentlemen's club out of it." Harry sighed. "Let's get back on topic. I'll answer your questions after my warning."

"Go on then tell me more about the world. Reality is so tattered what's one more revelation." Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"The rest of my family were killed by a cult that worships some type of god. It isn't Christian, I know that for sure. They also abducted the entire population of private drive." Harry paused unsure. He didn't get it out right.

"It started with a book given to my uncle by a man called Mr. Capper. He dressed like a captain of industry from the 1920s, has a cane, and is a mass of tentacles manipulating a corpse. My uncle eagerly took a contract from them to develop drills. They introduced their religion through a cursed book." Harry paused and looked to the man. He had a notepad out and was writing furiously. Only when he finished did he look up.

"How long ago did this occur?" Officer Brady asked.

"Do you believe me, or have I been wasting my time?" Harry asked.

"I need all the information Mr. Potter. Once you've given me every detail, I can begin piecing it together. Can magic alter memories?"

"Absolutely, in more ways than you can possibly imagine. There are also more defenses to counter them than stars in the sky. If you learn from my journal, you'll gain some natural defense against such magic." Harry said.

"Why would you give that to me? If there is magical law enforcement, then why me?" Officer Brady asked.

"Because you are here on the ground. This is where they will infiltrate and take over. Once they have mundane society, they'll spill into the magical one. Once they have you, it's nearly impossible to return."

"What do you want me to do?" Officer Brady asked.

"Keep your head down and ears open. Put what you learn from the journals into practice and fight back. As you are now, it's impossible to resist them." Harry said.

"Keep me informed and send me those journals. Send them to this address." Harry nodded and wrote down the address.

He told the constable the rest of his story then stood up to leave.

"I have one more question. What happened to my gun?"

Harry turned around and smirked. He pulled the weapon from his suit and placed it on the desk in front of the officer.

"See you around constable." Harry said. "Oh, and stay away from the secretary, she's a witch. She might try and erase your memories."

It was the early July before he knew it, it would be his birthday. Then he'd go to Hogwarts and learn how to wizard.

"Hey aunt Petunia, what do wizards do?" Harry asked.

"Magic," She said as if he were slow. She started the car and pulled on to the highway.

"No, I mean do they have a greater purpose to the world?" Harry asked.

"You should have said what you meant. I don't know, they seem to cause trouble only with magic." Petunia said.

After completing the journals, Harry altered them with his own flare. Instead of basing it completely on reincarnation, he hinted heavily that a qi expert should find their own path. Once they were finished, he sent them to constable Brady.

With his original task finished, he sealed himself off in his room to meditate. His mind focused on spreading out and gathering more essence than ever. Instead of just pulling in the essence around him, he came up with a new strategy. He spun his cultivation base. It wasn't by a lot, but he managed to increase his essence absorption by 1.5 times. His focus failed after that.

By his birthday, he was at the peak of the second stage and in a bottleneck. His passive qi absorption was greater than ever. His current physical strength was around 2.8 horses. Currently, he could create four orbs of sever all.

It had been a month and he needed to bathe. Filth covered his body worse than ever. After his shower he heard a knock at the door.

He cautiously made his way downstairs only for the door to fly off the hinges. "My door," Aunt Petunia yelled.

A giant of a man with a mane of black frizzy hair stepped forward. Four orbs of sever all appeared around Harry as he prepared for a hard battle.

"Sorry about that. Dumbledore said you weren't receiving your letters. Now why is that you reckon." The giant of a man asked. He turned and glared at Petunia.

"She huffed, don't look at me, he could have opened one at any time." The giant man looked confused.

"Who are you sir?" Harry said. The green orbs at his back were dimmed and ready to flash to blind this man if needed.

"Oh, how rude of me Harry. Rubius Hagrid is my name. I'm the grounds keeper of Hogwarts. That's an interesting bit of wandless magic. Your parents would be proud." Hagrid said. Petunia shook with barely held back rage. If not for Harry's control over her she'd have attacked Hagrid.

"Why didn't you do anything? My husband and son were killed, the whole neighborhood is gone because you didn't help. Harry could have died, and you wouldn't have known." Petunia accused.

"What?" Hagrid said.

"Hagrid it's like this." Harry explained the situation.

"Blimey Harry, I didn't know Fig didn't say anything. If Dumbledore had known." Hagrid said anger in his voice.

"I doubt even your great headmaster could have predicted tentacled body snatchers." Petunia scoffed.

Hagrid raised a finger about to reprimand her when Harry waved his hand. "She's right, no one no matter how great could have predicted this. It isn't that the headmaster dropped the ball, it's that this isn't normal. Or have you heard of something like this happening?" Harry asked.

"No Harry, I can't say I have. Ms. Fig should have reported something." Hagrid said.

"Well who do we report this to? This is an act of war from an alien group." Harry said.

"I'd only trust the headmaster with this." Hagrid said. Harry nodded slowly unsure of where this was going.


	7. Chapter 7

**Edited 04/28/2020**

A short motorcycle ride from Private drive brought him to an old bar in London.

"The Leaky Cauldron is the best Harry. Nowhere is better for a pint and a chat. We'll stop here then go on to the alley." Hagrid said and then stopped, he turned around then raised his brow. "Oh, I forgot, happy birthday Harry. I have some cake in my saddle pouch, I might have sat on it though."

"Thank you, I haven't eaten in a month. I'm starving, and cake sounds nice." They walked into the bar.

"Blimey is that Harry Potter." One of the patrons said. Harry froze as the entire bar leapt up and surrounded him.

His eyes widened as one of the patrons took his hand and shook it. Harry took a step back only to bump into another patron. "Watch it lad." Harry's breathing became ragged and his scar began to throb. It was only at this moment he realized he had too little physical energy. He hadn't eaten in a month.

"Now, now you're scaring the poor lad. Get back to your seats that's enough." The barkeep said.

Harry slowly made his way to sit down next to Hagrid. His heart continued to throb in his chest and sweat poured from his back. He looked around watching the patrons and maintaining his escape route.

"How do you like being famous Harry?" Hagrid asked.

"Hagrid, I never want to experience something like that again." Harry croaked.

The giant drained his mug and put some sickles on the table for Tom the barkeep. They made their way an inconspicuous brick wall. Hagrid tapped a few stones. The wall slowly and dramatically pulled itself apart. It took a full three minutes for the wall to open.

"Hagrid is there no faster way to get into the alley." Harry questioned.

"I suppose you could use the flew." Hagrid reasoned. At that moment he knew his giant friend was well and truly mad. Harry followed behind the giant at a cautious pace.

They approached a truly massive building complete with armed guards. On a massive sign was the name Gringotts. A vast stone hill of stairs separated them from the entrance. The stairs themselves were too short for Hagrid's feet forcing the man to duck walk.

"This is Gringotts the wizard's bank. Its ran by goblins. They are bloody clever creatures. Watch out and don't insult them. They don't forgive or forget." Hagrid warned.

"Ah you must be the famous Harry Potter." One of the guards said.

"This is Marrow Scraper and I'm Bone Splitter welcome to Gringotts. We hope your stay is pleasant and we have no need to apprehend you." Bone Splitter said.

"Does Gringotts have a customer cafeteria or buffet?" Harry asked the two.

Hagrid paused and raised an eyebrow. Then he looked at the goblins.

"That sounds like a good idea. How much is todays special? I can't see such a large place not having a cafeteria." Hagrid said.

"We apologize but the cafeteria is for employees of Gringotts only." Marrow Scraper said.

"Are there at least snacks in the customer lounge?" Harry asked.

"Yes, where is the customer lounge, I could use a cup of coffee." A magicless mortal said behind them. His daughter had frizzy brown hair and large brown eyes. Her front teeth were a little large but hardly a blemish.

Harry took a step towards the girl. "Hey, I'm Harry Potter are you also going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

The girl took a step behind her father. "It's alright Hermione introduce yourself." Her father said.

"I'm Hermione Granger and yes I am going to Hogwarts. Can we be friends?" Hermione asked.

"Will you be my friend Hermione?" Harry asked. She nodded. "Then we're friends.

The goblin let out a cough. "I'm sorry to disappoint you but there is no customer lounge for any but the most valuable Gringotts customer. Mr. Potter you may access it. As a Potter it is your due. I'm afraid you may bring no guests. But rest assured there are no buffet or cafeteria privileges with the lounge. It has only a comfortable place to sit and some outdated issues of witches weekly." Bone Splitter said.

"Thank you for your honesty." Harry sighed as they went in.

"So where are you going first after the bank?" Hermione asked.

"Anywhere that has food. I haven't eaten in a month." Harry said.

"Did you forget to have breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"You could say that. Have you eaten today?" Harry asked.

"Lad are you asking my daughter out on a date?" Mr. Granger asked.

"You can come too if you want to sir." Harry said.

"My wife is waiting for us at the bookstore. After the business at the bank I'll purchase Hermione's books. Mr. Hagrid are you a member of the staff at Hogwarts?" Mr. Granger asked.

"Yes, I am the grounds keeper and game warden. My job is to make sure the little ones don't go wondering off to parts unknown. It's a full-time job that." Hagrid said.

"Could I trust Hermione to you while if find my wife?" Mr. Granger said.

"I'll look after her." Mr. Granger nodded.

"Harry what do you like to do?" Hermione asked.

"I've started playing jump man. I like to write in my journal and document things that happen to me. Lately, I've taken an interest in magic if you can believe it." Harry said with a smile.

Hermione smiled back. "I'm interested in magic too. I like to read and Star Wars." Hermione replied.

Harry reached forward and pulled a coin out of her ear.

"Oh, you meant not real magic." Hermione said.

"I'm interested in both." Harry had just gotten his hands on a magic kit. He needed a lot of practice.

They approached the counter and soon parted ways. Harry promised to wait outside of Gringotts for her. After getting on cart they took off at a break neck speed. Harry spotted several creatures in Gringotts. There were dragons, a sphinx, and a very large cat. Strange tentacled creatures prowled on the walls dripping mucus from their bodies.

"Alright we're here, key please." Griphook said. Harry approached the vault door and placed a hand on it. For now, it was well out of his league. "Stand back while I open the door."

Harry didn't know what to expect when the door opened. What he saw was a modest pile of gold. Light cast from the ceiling made it sparkle. There were no other vaults this was all the money his parents left him. He had around 2000gps.

Harry picked up a coin. "Griphook is this pure gold?" Harry asked.

"No, this mint is 90% lead and only 10% gold. It was one of the ministry's wiser moves to increase the number of jobs." Griphook replied.

Each coin was an ounce but due to enforced inflation. The coins were only around 10% gold and 90% lead. There were around 2000 coins. He had around 222 ounces of gold or 13.9lbs of gold. Currently gold was around 362 pounds an ounce. That gave him around 80,000 pounds in his vault. It was enough to live on for a while if he was miserly. As a qi expert living miserly wasn't an option.

He took out a leather sack and filled it to the brim with gold. "Are there any dragons I could slay to rob them of their hordes?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid those days have been over for the last thousand years." Griphook replied snidely.

"Is there money in bounty hunting? Surely there are wizards that need killing." Harry asked.

"My poor little wizard you are too young. They will not let you slay the evildoers until you are older. Your wealth while small is more than many see in their lifetimes. Be clever and acquire a skill and sell your services. Then grow your wealth." Griphook advised.

"Thank you master goblin." Harry said. The goblin yawned revealing rows of sharp teeth.

"Think nothing of it. That was merely an example of the exemplary customer service Gringotts offers its noble customers." Griphook said.

"Yet still a buffet isn't offered. What is goblin cuisine like? Are there any places that offer it?" Harry asked.

"Underground, in Garrison city there are many restaurants. Humans aren't allowed to go there. You might find a place in America." Griphook replied. Harry felt disappointed at the lost opportunity.

Later, he stepped out of Gringotts to find Hermione waiting for him. She sat on the steps quiet as a church mouse. The September heat beat down on her. It must have been hot under those soft brown curls. He heard her let out a soft sigh as he silently approached her. Seeing her made him forget about the coming war, his funds, and the loss of a possible new experience.

"Have you been waiting long?" She turned around flashing him with her big brown eyes. He helped her up and they walked to the first eatery they saw.

"You know there won't be any games at Hogwarts." Hemione said. "Electronics don't work around magic. That's what Professor McGonagall said."

"You'll have to keep me distracted then Hermione. Do you think there will be any other games? For example, nine pin bowling, rugby, or maybe table tennis. Rugby may be a little violent, but we can discuss magic while bowling or while playing ping pong." Harry said.

"I didn't think you'd be like this. I heard people talking about you. They say you're a hero." Hermione said.

"I heard some mutterings about that in the bar Hagrid took me to. Listen Hermione my parents were kills by a terrorist by the name of Moldyshorts or something. At least Sauron sounds threatening. As for the hero thing, I really didn't pay attention to that part. It doesn't matter." Harry said.

"Don't you want the fame and attention Harry? You're special and I'm just Hermione." Hermione said.

"What do you think Hermione, do you think I'm some special hero or your new friend Harry?" Harry asked.

"Let's just eat Harry you wouldn't understand." Hermione said with a huff.

They were seated quickly, and it didn't take long for Harry to order the hardiest thing on the menu. He chose a steak and kidney pie. When the food arrived, Harry cut a handsome slice for Hermione. They began to dig in.

"I don't like attention." Harry said after his fourth slice. Already Harry could feel his strength begin to return. His qi spread through his limbs bolstering his strength.

"Why what's wrong with wanting attention?" Hermione asked.

"It's not something I enjoy. Crowds of people staring, makes me nervous." Harry said.

"Other kids don't like me. They hate it when I make perfect scores on tests. They ignore me at recess even the other girls throw rocks at me." Hermione said. Harry knew he couldn't have found an easier mark if he tried. All he had to do was be her friend early, and she'd be his for life.

"I won't ignore you Hermione." Harry said quietly. He took out his bag of coins and placed a gold piece and two sickles on the table. Just like that he'd spent 40pounds on a meal.

"Hermione, I'll see you on the Hogwarts express." Harry called out to her after leaving her with her parents.

'Olivander's wand shop,' Harry read before entering the run-down shack. He took a few steps inside before he sensed a presence sneak up behind him. Harry lashed out. Just as his fist reached maximum acceleration. He saw it was an old man and his sixth sense detected no ill will. In a microsecond,Harry made a split decision. He launched himself with his legs barely missing the old man's head. His fist hit one of the stacks of wands with a loud boom.

He snapped the beam of the shelf and watched the whole thing crash spilling wands everywhere.

Harry rounded on the wand maker. "Old man, do you want to die? Surprising a dragon would give you a death just as certain."

"Hello mister Potter, it's nice to finally meet you. My name is Oliver Ollivander and I am a wand maker." The old man blinked then looked to the side.

"Mr. Potter what happened to my shop. Are you up to some mischief?" Harry realized the old man was probably senile and mostly blind. The longer Harry looked at the man the older he appeared.

"Mr. Ollivander did you steal the secret of wand making from the dinosaurs." Harry asked the old man.

"No, I learned how to make wands from my father and he from his father before him. My family has been making wands in Great Britain for generations. Now would you like to give one a wave. Here is one pine and dragon heart string. Give it a wave." Harry sighed and walked around the room where the old man was facing a lamp.

Harry took and wand and waved it. Another row of wands collapsed as the shelves shattered. It felt like he'd taken a bucking bronco in his hand. It wouldn't obey him easily.

"No good how about unicorn and yew." Olivander handed him a new wand.

This wand felt lazy and skittish like it had all the time in the world but was too scared to act. Harry sighed and gently waved the wand. The ground froze over, and the magic ran back into the wand as if terrified. What little connection he felt was gone now. It would take a lot of coaxing to get another reaction at all.

"That one's no good either then. No matter third times the charm. This one is holly and phoenix feather." He held up the box and blew the dust off. Harry picked up the wand. The Dao of reincarnation was powerful in the wand. Harry could feel it sing a song of joining. They may fail from time to time but they'd always get back up. It was proud to be his wand and Harry couldn't help himself.

Harry waved the wand and created five orbs of sever all. There was no confusion. Harry didn't have to give up the Dao of reincarnation. This wand would be his own Dao of reincarnation. They would learn and sever away what was unnecessary and reincarnate what remained. Harry could feel his qi pulse in delight from the fusion of two Daos.

"Curious," Mr. Ollivander said.

"What's curious sir?" Harry asked.

"I remember every wand I've ever made, Mr. Potter." Harry really doubted that, but he didn't interrupt.

"I've only made two such wands and the twin to this wand gave you that scar." Harry felt at the scar on his head. "He was terrible Mr. Potter but great." Mr. Ollivander said. Harry opened his mouth to retort but let the old man have it. He waved his wand and the sever all orbs vanished.

"How much do I owe you?" Harry asked.

"For the wand ten galleons." Sure, he'd pay 360 pounds for a 25% power boost. Harry counted out the gold coins before placing them on Ollivander's desk. With the rest of the coins piled up there. For a moment, he thought about taking them. He used his sixth sense to find Ollivander staring at him intently. The old man's eyes were unusually alert.

Harry closed his bag before turning around. Ollivander quickly went back to his scatter-brained expression. He was such a crafty old man. With a final glance at the gold piled up on the desk, he left the shop.

He stopped by Madam Malcolms menagerie robes for all occasions and approached the desk. The lady was older in her mid-sixties by Harry's determination. She wore a light amount of makeup but still retained a portion of her youth. Harry tapped the bell on the desk to get her attention. She looked up sharply at him.

"Hello young man what can I do for you." Harry thought about how to word his need.

"I need robes built to withstand the wear and tear of at least 10 horses worth of strength in human form." Harry voiced.

"Young man, I will have no foolishness in my shop. Now state your need plainly." The older woman proclaimed. Harry bent his legs slightly and leapt atop the desk. He seemed to float for a moment as if gravity waited for permission before pulling him.

"Madam look at my cloths and judge for yourself. See the wear from running over kilometers per hour. The you see the seams stressed from the lightest movement. These shoes have already worn down to near uselessness. Everything I wear was new a week ago." Harry proclaimed.

"What is your name young man?" The woman asked.

"My name is Harry Potter, Madam." Harry said.

"What you need is a set of robes made from acromantula silk and dragon hide. The hide is needed around your thighs and ribs. Due to your size and for the custom work, I'll take no less than twelve galleons. Your Hogwarts package will only be five galleons. That brings the overall charge to seventeen galleons." Harry let her lead him to be fitted.

He saw a blonde-haired kid standing on a stool. The kid looked at him, but Harry ignored him. "Hey, I'm Draco Malfoy are you going to Hogwarts as well." The boy asked.

"Yes, I am." Harry replied. He'd been out for too long and it was making him feel grumpy. Harry looked over at the blonde boy. The poor kid seemed put off.

"I'm sorry, yes I'm going to Hogwarts as well. It's been a long day and it isn't half passed noon yet." Harry said.

"If you don't mind me asking. What happened to make the day so long?" Draco asked. Harry smiled this kid seemed to care.

"Well I'm an orphan and I just saw what my parents left me. A mere two thousand galleons." Draco winced.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Did the ministry confiscate most of the fortune?" Draco asked.

Harry sighed. "Maybe, or perhaps they made poor investments. You know what they say all it takes to bring down a thousand-year dynasty is one weak ruler. They are my parents but surely, they could have made better investments. Then I was informed of how few avenues of business were available to me until I graduate." Harry finished with a sigh.

"I think you should pick yourself up by your bootstraps and stop blaming them." Draco said. "My father had to repair the Malfoy name after my grandfather nearly ruined it with muggle sympathizing. Every generation has their own trials. Yours is just to rebuild a fortune. You still have your name right. What is it?" Draco asked.

"I'm Harry Potter." Harry replied. Draco froze and then Madam Malcom returned.

Harry finished and found Hagrid with a birthday present for him. In a cage was a beautiful snowy owl. Harry took his supplies and the newly named Hedwig and returned the number 4 private drive. Hagrid promised to report to Dumbledore and Harry decided to let him.

**Chapter end**

**Thank you for reading. This chapter is a little longer than normal. The next one will cover roughly half of first year then the next will cover the other half. Then its straight to second year. If you have any questions or want to send me your ideas, please write a review. I'll answer them today.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Edited 04/28/2020**

The signs were all around him, but he'd been too focused on dark wizards to see them. All he ever had to do was look up at the stars. Using an ancient telescope Albus Dumbledore did just that. He didn't like what he saw.

There were precious few years before the stars would be right. Three years if they were unluckily and a decade at their most fortunate. Even Fawkes' soft trills weren't enough to calm his heart this time.

Harry was, as good as, his grandson and he was attacked. In his own home no less. Petunia had been obscenely fortunate to escape with her life. Hagrid reported a certain jumpiness from Harry. Clearly Harry believed it wasn't over and he was right.

Stacks of papers littered Dumbledore's office. Some were muggle newspapers with mysterious sightings and others were well documented wizarding journals. All pointed to clues now laid bare. Great Cthulhu would rise, and the world would face devastation as never before.

"Where will we run to Fawkes, not even our dreams will be safe from the great dreamer? How will we fight a creature that drives men insane with its visage alone? Will any of us survive the rise?" Dumbledore asked his friend.

Fawkes was silent for a moment before he let out a great trill. It wasn't a soothing calming song but a call to action. His was the song of fire and devastation upon their enemies.

"Indeed, my friend. The best time to have prepared was decades ago. The next best time to prepare is now. This changes everything." Dumbledore had favors to call and a presentation to make.

…

Harry waited in the car with Petunia as the lights of the morgue turned off. She'd kept up her smolderingly cold glare while the car windows fogged over. Her cold body made driving in the summer a chore. Often he waved his wand at the windshield to clear the gathered condensation.

He was happy to recall the work put in to prepare for this moment. He'd added a potions laboratory complete with a cauldron of and amazing potion. The ingredients included the rust of a graveyard chain, the heart of a dog, lilies, bamboo, water from a forgotten well, aged garlic, and the most important ingredient corn starch from an Indian burial ground. This breed of maze was Aztec in nature. It thickened the salve he was making.

Salves were important to the art of human puppetry. By letting a corpse rest in the salve in its grave, it could draw upon the power of heaven and earth. Once his salve reached its boiling point and thickened into a paste, he took it off the heat.

Harry had been hard at work planning for his next puppet. There were no ends to the jobs he'd need done eventually but one role needed to be filled. He wanted something capable of combat. After perusing the obituary, he found someone perfect. Harry found a bioengineer who recently died from a car crash. A military officer would have been better, but Markus West was well known for his martial arts career. Harry had done his research and it was time to do some morgue robbing.

"I can't believe you're doing this. Why not let him be buried instead of taking him from the morgue?" Petunia asked. Harry wanted to laugh at her concern. As if decency truly mattered to her in life.

"The fresher the corpse the better. I'd rather have someone useful than a brain-dead servant. The longer it takes to obtain him the less of his mind and personality will be intact." Harry said. Bioengineers who could double as a bodyguard were hard to come by. He didn't know he wanted one until he read the newspaper.

It was three in the morning when they arrived. Harry had his eyes on the facility. It was a hardy square structure built of stone with few windows. He took out a floorplan of the building Petunia acquired for him. The bodies were stored on the second and third floor of the building. Petunia parked at a nearby parking garage on the third floor.

The blueprints offered him every secret of the building as he studied them. Harry quickly made the decision to use the roof as both his escape and entrance. No one expected him to enter through the roof, so security should be relatively light.

Harry leapt from the parking garage to an apartment complex. He jogged forward and leapt to the fire escape of the next building. After climbing up, he continued his run. In ten minutes, he was on the roof of the morgue. The door was surprisingly locked. He turned the knob hard snapping the inner mechanisms.

He turned a corner to find a blond-haired woman there. She gasped and he shoved her against a wall. His hand clamped over her mouth before he forced her to the ground. She struggled uselessly a wilting flower against the cold. Harry didn't want to kill her. He could it would be as easy as flexing but what would be the point.

"I don't suppose you'll forget about this and pretend you didn't see me." Her eyes were wide in fear. The cowardly woman shook her head to save her life. Harry let out a sigh. "I'm going to release your mouth. Don't scream or I'll silence you. Do you understand?" Harry said in the most menacing voice an eleven-year-old could. She nodded her head and slowly he removed his hand.

"What are you and how are you so strong?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Unless you want to be erased you should ease up on the questions." Harry replied.

"If you were going to kill me you would have already." She claimed. Harry pulled her name tag off and read it.

"Mandy Brown, Forensic Pathologist, you wouldn't happen to know where Markus West is located?" Harry asked.

"Does this have something to do with the order to declare his death a car accident?" Harry looked the woman over. She was in her late twenties, and in good shape. Her blond hair was tied back, and her eyes were blood shot. She clearly wasn't sleeping well.

"Its Markus's lucky day, I've come to give him a reprieve from death." Harry said. The woman started cackling at him.

"I must be going mad." Mandy said.

"Yes, you are so lead me to him and I'll leave you alone with your new state of mind." Harry said. He made a show of checking his watch. "I don't have all day lead me or get out of my way."

"You can bring the dead back to life, how?" Mandy demanded.

"So long as the corpse is fresh enough. I can raise the body with most of the mind and body intact. It hasn't yet been too long to resurrect him with most of his mind intact." Harry said.

"Why him of all people? Have you done this before?" Mandy asked.

"Ms. Brown you're wasting my time. He's merely a step-in preparation for a war against the gods." Harry said.

"There are gods now?" Mandy asked.

"Yes cold, unfeeling, and malignant gods ready to feast on the souls of their followers. Unless you're volunteering for the war effort, I'll be on my way." She pursed her lips. Harry didn't know what he'd have done if she volunteered.

"This is all too fantastical and strange. Why are you telling me this?" Harry raised an eyebrow. It was to get her on his side and use her for a potential repeat visit. It was better than making her write her own suicide note before tossing her off the roof.

"How alive are they after you bring them back?" Mandy asked. Harry saw her fiddle with a pager in her pocket. At that point he'd given up on his chances of getting to Markus West's corpse.

"They're walking flesh puppets automatons made of flesh incapable of being alive again. To call them their old selves is a stretch. It's more like a brand-new existence with preprogrammed memories. Who are you paging Ms. Brown?" Harry asked.

"I have another theory. You're an insane child with abnormal strength. In your delusions you've broken into here. I wonder what you'd do if you found the body." Just as she said that an officer burst into the room gun mid draw.

Harry dashed forward as the officer moved to place the gun between them. With a deft hand he made a feint for the gun only to take the officer's taser. He placed the taser on the officer and activated it. The man shook once then collapsed to the ground.

His sixth sense went off and he dove to the side to avoid Mandy's pepper spray. "I warned them about a body thief, more constables will be here soon." Harry let out a sigh. He wanted the bio engineer, but he'd settle for these two. Living puppets were almost as good as undead.

"Well no plan survives first contact." Harry vanished from sight and appeared next to Mandy. He hit her with the taser knocking her out. He stood over them thinking quickly. Sirens were going off and he was getting nervous. Harry wasn't sure he could handle a bullet right now.

He knew what a world ruled by gods or immortals looked like. Gods would never tolerate free immortals to live in their pantheon. Immortals chaffed at the authority of gods. They were incompatible.

Then there were mortal beings of logic reason and science bound to their limited reality and nature. They were truly a part of heaven and earth. Harry was a mortal on the path to immortality and he could still relate somewhat. But he couldn't live under the thumb of gods nor could he obey the natural laws of nature. He had needs and Mandy had delivered herself and that officer to him on a silver platter. They practically volunteered themselves. He hated wasting resources. This was a draft.

Back at number four private drive Harry took Mandy to his room while leaving the officer hand cuffed in the back of a car. Petunia held Mandy down as Harry fetched his knife.

He took a pair of scissors and cut open her shirt. Then removed her bra letting her tits fall to the side. "You perverted monster." Mandy shrieked. Harry noted the lady was a little on the thick side. Her nipples and areola looked like eggs.

Harry took out the knife and began sharpening it in earnest. He looked over the blade ensuring it was even. Harry put the knife down and brought in a coffin. Taking his caldron, he gently filled the wooden casket halfway. With a common tape measure, he checked to ensure the level was correct.

With that done, he removed the rest of her clothes. This was the second time he'd use carvings. He took out a marker and began to pick out spots for his runes. He knew what he was doing could be considered evil. Harry would kill anyone else he caught doing this. The problem is war was on the horizon and he needed soldiers. Puppets were more like fodder, but he had to start somewhere. In truth he hoped their role would be support.

Taking one of Vernon's leather belts out he placed it in her mouth. She looked at him confused.

"It's so you don't bite off your tongue." Her eyes widened, and Harry began to cut. She spasmed and tried to get away.

Petunia held her down as Harry worked. He cut through flesh, muscle, and at times scraped bone. After each symbol was complete Harry placed a drop of blood in the wound. Blood seep out before Harry placed some salve atop it. Once the symbols were finished Harry thrust his hand out and unleashed five strings. Mandy Brown spasmed as her Karma bound itself to him.

"You will not attack me, kill yourself, damage yourself, or harm others unless ordered to. You may only harm those who belong to the cult Star Spawn, Cthulhu, or death eaters. Now lay down in that coffin. You will remain there and sleep every night." She obeyed walking to the coffin before laying down in the salve.

He did the same with the officer.

Days later in the middle of August it began to rain sea water. It rained for three days straight. All the plants died. Harry could sense many presences in the rain. They were here to kill him. This was the battle that might kick off the war.

**Author's note - Sorry no Hogwarts yet one more chapter then it will be the two Hogwarts chapters then summer. I think each of those chapters will be 7k at least. As for Harry's actions.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Edited 04/28/2020**

**Disclaimer i don't own Harry Potter**

**Author's note - Hey i should be able to get a few chapters out this week so look forward to year one and summer coming out this week. Well unless something happens. I'm starting on year one right away and i'm planning to finish it in two very long chapters. So get ready for two chapters that could be anywhere from 5k to 10k each.**

Harry loved reading especially in a thunderstorm. In his hands was an old tome about the evolution of man. Within the book there was a lesson.

In antiquity there were two types of men. Those who believed a rustle in the bushes was the wind and those who believed it was a predator. Those men who believed a malevolent force could be behind the rustle lived on and spread their genes. Those who believed it to be the wind were eaten by predators. From an evolutionary standpoint it made sense. Even if nine out of ten bushes only rustled because of the wind, there was always a chance that a predator laid in wait.

This storm was his rustling bush and odds were good there was a malefic intent behind it. Did that mean he should be warry of all storms from now on? Should he search them out for monsters?

There was a monster behind this storm. Harry watched the clouds above churned. Lightning struck a nearby house. The house lit up quickly and the rain did little to stop it.

Hours after the storm arrived, he'd written a letter to Dumbledore in hope of reinforcement. This was just the type of attack that could bring the wizarding world to war against the cult of the SS.

Another crash of lightning revealed a creature of great size and terror. It was large as a house with great bat wings, a face of tentacles, and eyes too intelligent. An insidious will flowed from the creature and the rain poured down harder than before. His sixth sense touched the monster and he felt an endless well of energy. Some outer force powered this creature. As he stared into the abyss, he felt something that was malignant. Harry jerked back his sixth sense and closed it from the creature.

As he was Harry knew he couldn't match the creature. Instead, he closed the blinds in his room and crossed his legs in meditation. He could never trust another storm not to hold some star spawn come to slay him.

Five of his sever all orbs floated around his meditating form. As lightning crashed against the ground Harry contemplated his next step in cultivation. He needed far more essence to reach the next stage in refinery.

Lightning smashed against his home, but it never caught fire. The creature outside refused to come closer. For now, they were safe.

Harry began to meditate about essence refinement. The current incarnation of his technique wasn't cutting it. Using only the qi in his body wasn't enough. Then there was the fact he didn't use his body as a filter anymore. Such a practice was damaging to the physical form. There were ways to mitigate the damage, but none were readily available.

There was no instruction for his current path, a mistake on his part could end his path here. He could taint his qi irreparably. That's why the path of reincarnation was so useful. There was a clear roadmap. There was also a black thread connected to that portion of qi.

What was the difference between his sever all orbs and his own inner qi? Harry opened his eyes after several hours had passed.

In their current state the sever all orbs were useless for qi refinement. They were too primal and incapable of differentiating from pure and impure essence.

A day passed as Harry crafted orb after orb, but none can take on more than a single order.

The house shook as a massive tentacle smashed into the side of it. Somehow number 4 private drive repelled the tentacle. A small red barrier appeared around the house before impact. Harry could sense the copper tang of blood from it.

The beast withdrew back into the dense cover of rain.

Another day passed, and Harry opened his eyes from meditation with the answer. It had been so obvious, but he couldn't see it before. Harry's internal qi was the refinery. He was the machine that purified the essence. There was no need for five extra refineries. What Harry needed was more essence to refine.

His five sever all glowed with life as they severed free the essence to fall into Harry's refinery. Now that his refinery didn't have to fight to pull, he could concentrate solely on refining.

Three days passed, and Harry's body was completely covered by a shell of filth. Five green orbs spun in place as the filth hardened around him.

He was pushing against the door. This was it he'd smash through the bottle neck and into qi refinery stage three. Vast amounts of essence rushed into him as he refined it so fast his spiritual sea boiled. Harry felt a shattering run through his body as the barrier of the 3rd stage broke. His qi expanded from a tiny puddle into the beginnings of a well. His body began to overflow with strength as his refinery speed increased further.

Hours passed and even five times his essence absorption rate wasn't enough for his refinery. To reach the next level, he'd need to hone his magic.

Harry stood up and the shell of filth shattered around him. His body glowed with a slight green sheen of qi. More power filled his body than ever before. He wasn't even halfway to the foundry level and already he felt incredible.

This time, he dared to stretch his sixth sense out. He reached out and touched the creature before him and saw the endless well of power. Harry was a speck compared to this creature. Its power was inevitable, its form malleable, and its mind alien. He spat out a mouthful of blood and fell down shaking.

Harry reasoned that perhaps an upstart mortal barely on the path to immortality couldn't win against a god. On the bright side it seemed that it couldn't get through the barrier.

After opening his window Harry made his way to the roof. The rain was sea water and something else mixed in. To be safe Harry formed a small green barrier around himself. A basic qi technique. Unfortunately, his barrier barely kept the rain out. He'd need a lot of practice before his barrier could take a punch.

The creature moved forward its body massive. Harry could see the bodies of all the denizens of private drive attached to the creature's flesh. They were used to fill some wound on the creature. Like living stitches their forms held the beast's flesh together. Tentacles from the wound stabbed through them. Harry could see some of them were withered away from the tentacles draining nutrients from their bodies.

It was disgusting. The people trapped in the wound didn't beg for help or try to escape. They moaned in some perverse pleasure. Whatever this was they didn't want to leave it. Their hands fought to acquire more tentacles to fit inside themselves. Even as their bodies turned into the creature's flesh and their faces were buried, they cried out in lust.

Ms. Fig was held in center place with the most tentacles jammed into her flesh. It seemed she was instrumental for the creature's recovery. Her eyes were gone replaced with green tentacles. Her naked body was the slowest to be consumed by the monster's slick green flesh.

Lightning struck the ground and the monster lumbered towards number 4 private drive.

The monster lashed out only for its tentacle to stop once more against the red barrier. Harry took an orb of sever all and flattened it into a disk. He tossed it aiming at the tentacle. The disk sliced halfway through the tentacle spilling blood everywhere.

Blood seeped from the wound quickly transforming into smaller tentacled monsters. The wound quickly closed and the monster lashed out again.

Harry created an sever orb and sent it down on one of the spawned creatures. The creature was absorbed into the sever all and the orb quickly grew. Harry pulled the orb to himself and senses a colossal amount of essence within the orb. Harry sent the other orbs down and soon had five orbs filled to the brim with essence. They were so full they threatened to crack open.

Immediately, Harry took this good fortune for what it was and quickly refined the essence. Afterwards, he sensed his power was roughly 15% closer to the next stage. Harry looked at the creature with undisguised greed.

Three days later

Harry opened his eyes and let out a yell. Qi glowed around his body and tiny sparks shot off him. He entered the fourth stage of refinery. Seven orbs of sever all appeared behind his back. The creature lumbered back over to him and slammed against the barrier. Harry was ready for it.

Before the tentacle could reach the barrier, Harry unleashed four desks of sever all. Together they sliced through the tentacle and it fell quickly forming into another much smaller star spawn. It turned just in time to be ripped into by seven orbs of sever all. The orbs grew to massive sizes as they dipped passed the barrier and back to Harry.

All of it happened in moments. Harry could sense the creature thoroughly now. Its power had dipped while Harry's rose. It had brain damage and that was why it needed worshipers to heal itself. Harry supposed he was selected as the final ingredient it needed to finish the process.

Harry couldn't sense any other star spawn in the area. This could have been a lone attack. The Star Spawn may not be unified, or this guy could be the boss. Its ability to react was drastically limited.

Five days later

An explosion shot through Harry's body as he reached the fifth stage of refinery. Ten orbs of sever all appeared around him and his body was much stronger than before. Most of the wound on the creature's head was healed it moved faster.

This time it didn't approach the barrier its tentacles moved, and lightning blasted off its tentacles and smashed into the barrier. Harry was blinded as the lightning continued to blast. When his vision returned there were cracks in the barrier. The creature lurched forward its body turning into a viscous like substance. The barrier reformed cutting the creature off.

Inside the barrier was roughly a tenth of the creature. Harry attacked it, but it became liquid shifting into multiple human sized versions of the monster outside.

The beast outside seemed smug beyond imagining. The star spawn within quickly became gas and traveled up to Harry. They surrounded him while he held his breath and kept his barrier up. The massive star spawn turned into lightning again and prepared to blast the barrier again.

The small star spawn wrapped around him pushing against his barrier. Harry's seven orbs lashed out cutting and absorbing to the point to bursting. With over a tenth of the star spawn broken down into essence he couldn't do a thing as the thing turned into lightning.

"Crucio," even as living lightning the creature shook in pain. Harry could sense a measure of fear from the creature.

A bird of flame smashed into the creature forcing it back into its original form. With the distraction happening Harry began refining the essence at an incredible rate. He'd developed a taste for processing this brand of divinity. In minutes, he processed the essence and broke into the sixth stage. Instead of a pond of internal qi he developed a river. Nine sever all orbs appeared around the young qi expert as he stood up.

He took a step off the roof leaping down and dashing through the mud. His feet barely touched the ground when he appeared next to the cavalry. Harry pointed his wand at the creature and three orbs shot forth eating holes through the monster. It was now Harry realized yet another Dao, consumption.

"Harry, dear boy, are you alright." An old man with a long beard asked. Harry pointed his wand at the monster again and fired another three shots. His other orbs returned, and he refined the energy within at an incredible speed.

Harry turned to the old man and hugged him.

"Thank you, sir, if you were a second later, I'd be dead. Is Hedwig alright?" Harry asked.

The man's eyes twinkled, and a small smile crept over his face. "Yes, my boy Hedwig is fine, and Fawkes is here to save the day."

The other three orbs returned, and Harry quickly refined their essence. After absorbing so much, he realized he was in another bottle neck. Harry's eyes glowed green as he lost a bit of control over his essence. He had enough sense to release his savior before he crushed him.

Even in the pouring rain Fawkes burned bright. The phoenix ripped through the star spawn tearing pieces away which quickly burned to ash. Each time it tried to change into something to take the advantage the black-haired man hit it with a crucio. The pain broke its concentration keeping it in its vulnerable solid form.

"Headmaster, I fear for the war effort. It requires a phoenix and constant application of the illegal pain curse just to take on one of these creatures. How did you survive Mr. Potter?" The dark-haired man questioned.

"My home has a blood shield and the beast was healing from a brain injury. If it had been at full power, I'd have died." Fawkes flew up in the air and glowed with more fire than before. The clouds opened revealing the sun.

Fawkes shot down blazing hotter than ever. He struck the star spawn and fire shot through the creature. In moments the monster burned to ash.

"Well my body with this matter behind us. How about you pack up and head to the train station? I'll take things from here." The headmaster said.

The young qi expert made his way inside and began to pack up. The two coffins underground still held two living mortals within. They would survive in the salve until he returned. Harry doubted that was the only star spawn in existence. What could they do against two, ten, or a hundred of them? That one had brain damage and wasn't fully healed even at the end.

He decided to push himself to reach foundry level. He would never know when the next rainstorm would hold an army of those creatures. Any storm could be the end.

**Chapter end **

**Tell me what you think in a review. If you don't tell me I won't know to change something.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Edited 05/02/2020**

The sea has always been mysterious. Humankind dreamed of more fantastical creatures in the depths than could ever exist on land. Wizards have attempted to explore these depths in ancient times. The lost city of Atlantis was one grand research facility. 10,000 years ago, during the height of the first age. The written word of ancient shaman was later lost to depths. Only the word of mouth remained of the once great society and words of the great fracturing remained. The wizards of old who created the written word were struck with madness and their writing were destroyed. Only a single chunk of stone remained with the first written word. It warned of a great creature in the depths.

In the crushing, choking, and churning depths of the sea Harry opened his eyes. Panic set in as sea water filled his lungs and he sunk. He clawed towards the surface to no avail something had him. Harry continued to thrash as the light grew dimmer before winking out.

His lungs burned as water filled him. Darkness took him as the light vanished and he waited for the end. Moments passed, and he didn't black out. He opened his mouth and sucked in sea water to no effect.

With his lungs heavy with sea water his sinking accelerated. From the dark the light of magma glowed softly revealing a deep trench. His eyes burned and his lungs felt heavy, useless. His qi pushed him down as he traveled towards his destination.

There was something he was after. Something waited for him in the depths. As he traveled lower where natural sea creatures feared to dwell, he heard a song. It was enchanting, old, and beautiful, he realized that soon he'd be late. His qi pushed him through the water towards the song.

There were no words only sadness and duty. In the depths where this creature lived there with a purpose. It sang the song of its eternal life of its desires that could never be fulfilled. For it was bound to a purpose and it lived only to fulfill it. This creature was known to Harry.

As Harry sunk down fathom after fathom where the heat of the earth boiled the water. He felt resigned and the cold smoldering sensation of old anger. This was a betrayal by the world itself. Why had she done this to him?

The star spawn gathered blocking his way. They weren't his match anymore. Her blood ran through his veins now. His cultivation base was beyond what it had been. Time had been twisted and by twisting it he had time to become himself.

Harry waved his wand and the lightning of alchemy struck them. A bag of green pills for each were now at his side. Each pill held the seemingly unfathomable power of an elder star spawn.

At the bottom of the hidden sea where magma flowed freely on the ocean floor, he stood before the gates of an ancient prison. No, he realized it wasn't the right time. This wasn't right. He gripped his head as he felt himself pulled back. Hours, days, months, and years flew back too fast to perceive.

…

He felt something touch his shoulder and startled awake. Emotions swirled through his eyes as he looked up at a ginger. He looked around and remembered he was on the train. A vision had taken him in the middle of meditation. Was it a vision? Harry reached a handout and felt as if he could grasp the vision again.

"Mate can you understand me?" The red head asked bringing Harry fully out of his vision. Harry rolled his eyes at himself.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter." Harry introduced himself to the red head. The boy's eyes widened. For a second, he thought he'd given the boy a stroke. Suddenly, the boy's hands were shaking Harry's.

"I'm Ron Weasley nice to meet you. Oh, could I see your scar." Harry sighed before letting a small smile spread across his face. Ron huh, well it looks like friendless Harry Potter was up to two friends. A smug smile spread over Harry's face before it vanished as he raised his hair.

"Blimey does it hurt?" Ron asked.

Harry let him look and only felt mildly uncomfortable. An older lady knocked on their door.

"Want anything from the trolley dears?" Harry shook his head while Ron took out an old sandwich.

"Hey, do you want some of my sandwich?" Ron offered. Harry stretched out feeling his joints pop.

"No thank you Ron. I had a big breakfast." Harry said.

A small smile crept over his face. He could still taste the essence from those stars spawn in his dream. Harry let out a forlorn sigh. His qi was enough to sustain him now. Food wasn't necessary. Although, the thought of turning creatures into pills hadn't crossed his mind before. That was something to look into.

He felt a familiar presence approach their door. Harry stood up, opened the door, and pulled Hermione in. A large set of brown eyes widened in shock then recognition.

"Hey Hermione, join us please." Harry said.

"I have to find Neville's toad first." Hermione protested before Harry dragged her in and closed the door.

"It isn't your responsibility. It probably found somewhere quiet and dark to hide until the train stops." Harry reasoned.

"No Harry, I have to find it. I promised Neville." Hermione protested.

Harry had no idea why she'd rather help someone else than spend time with him. He could have sent his sixth sense out and found the toad. That would have taken no more than a thought. The young qi expert wasn't going to.

"Hermione, I'd like to introduce you to Ron my new friend." Harry turned to Ron. "Ron my new friend, I'd like to introduce you to Hermione my first and best friend." He saw Ron's jaw set as the hierarchy was established. A small smile crept over his face.

Harry picked her up bridal style. Her face went pink immediately as he sat her in his lap. He looked at her chocolate brown and brushed a hand through her bushy hair. He was glad to have collected her.

"Harry, respect my personal space." Harry slid his hand through her hair and laid back. She barely fought back as he placed her in his lap.

"Why are you doing this?" Hermione asked.

"Because I want to." Harry sighed; he'd been doing that a lot recently.

There were many ways a qi expert could use a mortal. They could turn them into pills, puppets, or use them as spare parts for their puppets. Fortunately, there were no dark sects yet to mass turn mortals into puppets or undead abominations. With the secrets of cultivation spreading quickly that would soon change. Harry was guilty of puppet manufactory an illegal practice among civilized cultivators. He'd need to create his own sect eventually.

"You're weird Harry." Hermione said.

"Hey Hermione, how much is your bride price?" Harry asked. It was a bit early, but he reasoned that with enough training she'd make a great first wife or concubine.

"I don't know what that is. Besides we barely know each other why we would get married?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, it's how much the suiter must pay the father for the right to marry the bride. Dad had to pay my granddad nearly fifty goats and three dozen chickens. It has fallen out of fashion lately." Ron muttered.

Harry knew exactly what he was doing. He knew this was a clash of culture, but it would be too fun not to try it.

"That sounds so barbaric." Hermione said.

"It's actually about economics." Harry said. Hermione opened her mouth then closed it. He could see her mind moving and then begin to conclude the answer. Harry grinned at her making those big brown eyes widen in understanding.

"You're doing this on purpose." Harry nodded as she began to speak. "Why would you want to buy me or was buying me not the point. Its economics so does it have something to do with rationing?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded once. "Were there less women than men?" Hermione said.

"After the last war there were. Now things are about even but powerful witches are known to breed powerful offspring." Harry said.

"There is also the belief that pureblood witches are the best." Ron added.

"Let's not talk about that part yet Ron. I want to ease Hermione into the world." Ron held up a thumb.

"So that's why you want to know my bride price? Because you think I'm powerful, I'd be easier to buy now." Harry shook his head.

The idea behind investing was buy low and sell high. He wanted her, so he'd take steps to acquire her.

"Potter, I found you." Harry turned to see the blond-haired kid he'd seen at Madam Malcom's in the door way to their compartment.

"Let me introduce myself. The name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy I'd like to be your friend. I'd also like you to know, some friends are better than others." Harry nodded his head.

Hermione had a womb that could produce the beginning of his clan. Ron was a wealth of cultural information. What could Draco Malfoy supply him? What would Draco Malfoy require in return?

"What is expected of me in exchange for this friendship?" Harry asked.

"All you have to do is remove yourself from blood traitors and those of lesser blood." He said while glaring at Hermione.

"What do I gain for such a constraint?" Harry asked.

"You're not going to ditch us for that slimy git are you Harry." Harry raised a hand.

"Draco has come to bargain, and I must ask what he can offer?" Harry's good mood was gone. Hermione was nervous in his lap.

"My family is wealthy, and my father has the ear of the minister. With my help the Potter house will rise again to rejoin its peers." Harry looked at Hermione and thought about all the children she could give him.

He'd heard that wizard healing magic was excellent. That meant she could continue having children for a long time. Something that other wizard families didn't do due to inheritance reasons. They never thought to turn their mere houses into true clans. If they had children from the day she flowered from 12 to 16 to menopause, which for a witch is 80. Then they could have 64 to 68 children or more because pregnancy extends to the date of menopause and the potential for twins.

Harry had to think of the future. Hermione's utility far surpassed anything the Malfoy family could give him. They would never let the Potter house rise above them.

"Harry say something you've been staring into space." Hermione said. Harry looked at Draco then shook his head.

"No deal Hermione alone is worth more than the entire Malfoy fortune." Harry said.

"You really mean that Harry?" Hermione said.

"Absolutely," Harry said.

"You'll pay for your words Potter." Draco said. Harry turned his head to the side confused. It was simple math. A clan full of qi experts would bring in far more than even an old families fortune. Especially, if they bribed political officials as often as Harry heard they were. Then again, he could be wrong. Hermione's womb may dry up after a few kids, or it might already be barren. Perhaps, he should have thought about it further before answering.

"Guys, you should put your robes on. We will reach the school soon." Hermione said after checking her watch.

After putting on his school robes, Harry departed the train with his two friends. "I heard you had to fight a troll to get in. Do you think that's true?" Ron asked as they entered a line for boats across black lake.

Harry thought about what a troll could look like. His defense against the dark arts book didn't have an image unlike many of the other creatures. It was frustrating, there was a tag by where the image should be. It had been censored through some regulation. Could that be to give the troll a greater advantage in a fight? From what he read; the trolls were unintelligent.

"Ron trolls are fifteen feet tall and are magic resistant. What could we do against one?" Hermione asked. Harry was certain he could break one in two with a kick. What if it was a battle royal? Throw a bunch of children in with a troll to set a president. Some of the more prestigious sects used such a tactic when they had plenty of members to spare.

He looked between Ron and Hermione. One a treasure trove of social knowledge and the other a powerful witch. Harry could sense her potential. Neither would last a second against a berserk beast like a troll. He'd rather Hermione remained untouched. After taking a moment to look Ron over, he decided to prioritize Hermione, if he had to save one.

"Don't worry guys, if there is a troll stay behind me." Harry said.

As they boarded the boats a tentacle reached out from the depths. Harry stopped himself from cutting it off, when it simply waved at them. With a sigh of relief Harry calmly watched the castle as they approached it. Harry fell into another vision.

…

A shadow swept through the halls of a familiar building. It leapt up the columns of moving staircases. Its eight terrifying eyes looked at him urging him on. Tentacles squirmed, and bat wings fluttered at the edge of his vision. He heard the song as it called him.

On the third floor of the tower a door opened revealing the form of a three headed dog. The shadow terrified the cerberus and it hid in its corner. A talon covered hand made a come-hither motion and he followed it down a trap door. Some type of plant waited at the bottom and Harry cut it to pieces.

The shadow blinked at him from the edge of his vision. Its eight eyes followed his movement as he snatched a broken winged key from the air. He slipped beyond the next door. At a chess set now Harry storm through obliterating the pieces.

Harry leapt over the flames and struck a troll in the nape of its neck severing its brain stem and killing it instantly. The shadow continued leading him stopping at a room with a mirror. In the mirror, Harry saw himself holding hands with a girl whose face was blurred and a shadow with eight eyes place a red stone in his pocket.

…

"Better be Gryffindor," an old hat atop his head said. Harry had blanked out again. Who was it and why couldn't he see that girl's face?

"Attention everyone, I have a few announcements before you all retire." When everyone calmed down the headmaster continued. "The third-floor corridor is now forbidden as of this year. It is ill advised for anyone to venture to it who doesn't desire a painful death." Harry recalled the three headed dog and suddenly wanted to go visit it. The bitch seemed aggressive but maybe animal care could lead to some form of enlightenment.

"The forest beyond the black lake is forbidden. Filtch our caretaker would like to remind you that magic between the corridors is forbidden. Every item on Zonko's order catalog are forbidden." As Harry thought about his plans, he spotted the caretaker. The man had a familiar book in his hand. It was a copy of a journal that Harry had handwritten himself.

"In the morning you will all receive your schedules, so for now get some rest." The headmaster said.

The caretaker was only at the first stage from Harry's sixth sense. He wasn't anything to worry about.

Harry felt odd, more like he wanted something. When he looked at Hermione that flame increased. But when he looked at Hermione's bottom it increased more. He let out a sigh realizing what this feeling was. It was normal for him. Qi forced the body to reach its prime as quickly as possible. Harry relaxed and continued following the class.

In the common room Harry sat beside Hermione and read a book on various plants. Hermione let out a cute yawn causing Harry to look up from his book.

"If you're tired go to bed, I'm sure tomorrow will be all about introductions." Harry said.

"Why aren't you tired?" Hermione asked.

"I rarely need to sleep. I'll probably sleep an hour or two Friday." Harry said. As he learned more about magical plants, he realized some had a fair amount of intelligence. Qi could manipulate the growth of plants. What if plants can be taught to cultivate? Could they be programmed to cultivate? He took out his journal.

Look into the Dao of plants, plantkinesis, and maybe botonny. He quickly, updated his journal and checked the time. A red and gold enchanted clock informed him it was 3AM.

It was time to pull himself up by his bootstraps. He looked over after hearing some light snoring. Hermione had dropped her book and nodded off.

Harry let out a sigh and gently picked her up. It was three in the morning and he was certain she didn't want to wake up in his bed. He felt a tingling in his chest when he held her. She opened her eyes blearily.

"Harry there is a spell on the stairs. Boys can't use them." She mumbled. Harry bent his knees and leapt over the stairs Hermione in hand. The stairs now behind him turned into a slide. Harry walked past the doorway quickly finding the first years.

He found one of the few empty beds. In his opinion the green bedspread was adorable. He pulled the covers back and tucked his friend within.

"Harry don't leave. You're my only friend. Please stay with me." Hermione begged in a mumble.

"What about Ron isn't he a friend?" Harry asked her.

"I don't like him. You should ditch him. I don't want to share you." Hermione said.

Harry sighed and tucked her in. He put her stuffed animal in her arms, and she turned over and finally stopped talking. After leaping down and landing silent as a mouse, he turned a corner to see Professor McGonagall. The woman looked grumpy while wearing a head of curlers.

"Good morning Professor did you sleep well?" Harry asked.

"Don't be cute with me Mr. Potter, what were you doing in the girl's dorm?" She asked.

"I was tucking Hermione in after she fell asleep on the couch. I guess the history textbook was a bit dry." Harry said.

"Why aren't you in bed? You have a long day tomorrow." McGonagall whispered.

"I don't sleep much anymore. My dreams take me to places and I don't want to go." Harry replied.

"Does it have something to do with the Star Spawn? Many have trouble sleeping after seeing them." She said. Harry thought back on the monsters. Apatite inducing visions of turning them into pills and consuming them by the handful occupied his thoughts.

Another thought overtook him of a creature with eight eyes and tentacles. A small slender set of wings covered her back and her visage was the kind to drive mortal minds insane. Then there was the girl he'd seen, there was something to her. If he could only see her face. All of it made him feel odd; happy, sad, angry, and hopeful. Nothing was set in stone yet; he'd change their fate. He shook his head; he'd change his fate.

"That doesn't bother me professor. I'll be fine for class, go to bed, I'll be here by the fire in case something happens." Harry said.

He sat down and began to read his textbook on magical plants. The professor didn't leave instead she summoned a tea set and poured tea for them both.

"Why did you choose the book on magical plants to study above anything else?" The shadow pointed to a far-off red dot in the sky. Mars was bright that night. She knew him and what he wanted before he'd ever looked. It was a love letter through time and space a message from a being as eternal as this reality.

"I want to turn mars green and move our people there." Harry said.

Was time yet another Dao he'd take on in the future? If so, when would he meet the eight eyed monster that held him in such high regards.

"That sounds like an undertaking of a thousand lifetimes Mr. Potter." McGonagall said. Harry planned to become a true immortal. When he did, he'd begin seeding planets. He'd spread humanity far throughout the galaxy. Though that pot was on the slowest boil.

"A thousand-mile journey starts with the first step." To him a thousand lifetimes wasn't that long. He planned to live forever. Was he cultivating the Dao of mankind now? When had that happened? Did he also intend to cultivate the Dao of space? He'd need to study more than ever; he lacked the physics books required for such research.

In the earliest hours of the morning a few hours before the sun would rise Harry made his way out. He had a corridor to visit.

His first discovery was a locked door. It seemed getting to the Cerberus wasn't an easy task. That and perhaps this wasn't the first animal to craft a new spell with. He was still in the first stage and Harry was many things but dumb wasn't one of them. If he wanted to reach the stars, he had to learn how to stand first.

Harry quickly realized that the best person to go to would be Hagrid. He was the games master. Was there a learner's program to gain experience in the wilderness? Could working with Hagrid supply him with some form of extra credit or school points. If he wanted his questions answered the staff were the nearest source of information.

He dropped off a staircase and landed on the floor with a gentle tap. His own cultivation base allowed him to turn gravity into more of a suggestion than a hard law.

Harry froze and realized that he didn't really need to know natural laws to do things with qi. It was more like he needed to know how qi dealt with the world. He wrote that tidbit into his journal and followed his fellow students to the great hall.

After walking up to the high table for all to see, he made a bee line to Hagrid. The half giant was busy finishing off his third plate that morning. Harry paused before the man waiting for him to acknowledge his presence. It only took five minutes of anxiety fueled stares before Hagrid looked up and noticed Harry.

"Harry good morning when did you get here." Hagrid asked.

"Hey Hagrid, can I start going with you when you visit the forest?" Harry asked.

"Mm Mr. Pot tt er there are dangerous creatures in the forest. T t t here ar werewolves, v v vampires, and tt trolls to nn name a few." Professor Quirrell said. Harry felt his scar burn and quickly swept over the professor with his sixth sense. There was the professor and a deadly parasite, a twisted spell with a consciousness of its own was feeding off the professor.

Harry gave it some thought and realized the teachers probably knew about the professor's disability. Dumbledore probably hired the man knowing Professor Quirrell didn't have much time left. He then assumed that Professor Quirrell was noble giving up his remaining time to teach.

"I'm sure you have a lot of experience with such matters sir and it would be rude of me to throw it away out of hand. It is ultimately up to the headmaster whether it would be safe for me to go with Hagrid." Harry said.

"Well Harry we normally reserve braving the forest with Hagrid as a punishment but if you want to volunteer, I won't deny you the opportunity. Will he be safe with you Hagrid?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked.

"Aye, headmaster he'll be safe." Harry cleaned his face.

"Harry be ready to go at 18:00 hours we'll be out close to midnight." Harry nodded. He'd guessed as much. It would give him plenty of time to enjoy a magical forest.

…

Harry sat through Professor McGonagall's lecture on the basics of transfiguration. It was a bit dry and not very useful. He quickly turned the matchstick into a needle. It wasn't difficult.

"Now Mr. Potter why don't you try turning two at once." McGonagall suggested. Harry found that when he tried to transform one the other lagged behind. Instead of getting two complete needle he had two half formed metal matchsticks. "It seems your focus is too narrow. True transfiguration allows one total control over their environment. Turn them back into matchsticks and try again."

Harry continued trying but they never quite became needles. At one-point Harry was able to make them look like needles. McGonagall snapped them in half revealing the wood within.

"You're on your way to only being mediocre Mr. Potter try harder. Now class visualize the matchstick becoming a needle. Remember all the characteristics of a needle otherwise the change will only be skin deep." Professor McGonagall said.

"Professor why is Harry doing two while we only need to do one?" Hermione asked.

"Mr. Potter has already completed his needle and returned it to matchstick form. I won't have his time wasted in my class. Ah young lady there is still some phosphorous on your needle. Try again until you get it right." Just as Harry removed his wand McGonagall picked up his needles and inspected them. She took out a series of instruments and measured the needles.

"Did I do well professor?" Harry asked.

"Five points to Gryffindor for mediocre progress. Now we still have thirty minutes left in class. I'm certain we can further increase your progress." She took four tiny blocks of wood from her desk. Each was of a different size and none looked like a matchstick. "As you can see these objects look nothing like the needle you are attempting to make. This is to simulate a real situation. When you fail use this spell." She jabbed her wand and said finite incantum.

Harry worked on the objects feeling his mind nearly snap from the effort. Each failure resulted in a finite incantum or a reset. In five minutes, he had sweat beading down his face. His qi wasn't affected by these spells, but his consciousness was. Magic like this was guided solely by his mind and no amount of qi could enhance it. Having qi had one critical benefit. It restored his consciousness energy at an insane rate.

At the end of the class McGonagall went to each needle. She took out her tools and measured them one by one. Hermione was still working on changing two matchsticks at once and failing. She seemed exhausted.

"Ten points to Gryffindor for the most improvement in a single class. How many tries did it take you to get four identically mediocre needles?" McGonagall asked.

"I stopped counting after eighty Professor." Harry said.

"See class it isn't talent that makes a strong wizard its dedication. A talented wizard would have succeeded after a mere twenty tries. Mr. Potter is below average but his dedication to practice is his talent." Professor McGonagall said.

…

"Hey Harry, what was up with the Professor she seemed so nice. Why did she single you out mate?" Ron asked.

Hermione was in the bathroom crying after the class. Harry was waiting on her outside with Ron.

"I guess she wants us to be good at transfiguration. She is right, I'm not good at magic, I'm good at trying repeatedly."

He turned his head to see a bleary-eyed Hermione walking out.

"That was exhausting, Harry I didn't know she'd do that if we succeeded." Hermione said.

"Well then don't try hard." Ron said. Hermione blinked owlishly.

"No Ron that isn't the answer. If they push us to be better, then we need to push harder to be better." Hermione said.

Harry placed a hand on Hermione's head and transferred some of his qi to her. The stress on her face eased a bit as his qi washed over her. Harry felt like he'd just entered the Dao of healing. By wanting to help Hermione, he was able to alter his qi to be beneficial to her.

…

"You swish and flick in that order otherwise you may summon a buffalo on your chest." Professor Flitwick said with a chuckle. Harry waved his wand following the movement and feeling his qi and consciousness respond to the wand movements. The others only had consciousness power to work with while Harry was backed by his qi reserves.

"Now repeat after me class, Win Gar diem Levi Oh Sah." The class repeated him and soon the practical lesson began. Harry was able to float his feather quickly and knew after the spell he'd need a lot of practice. It was pure focus. The spell battled against the forces of reality itself, but it wasn't too taxing.

"I see you have some common control over the spell Mr. Potter. To teach you properly, you need to have another will act against you. That is the truest way to improve your charms. As it happens this spell is the best for such practices." Professor Flitwick said. A cunning glint appeared in the professor's eye as the teacher's will forced the feather down.

Harry struggled against it for every decimeter, centimeter, and millimeter. Despite Harry's quick recovering consciousness energy, the professor's experience and talent won out. The feather touched Harry's desk.

"Congratulations, Mr. Potter you lasted two seconds against me while I was distracted with teaching. Let's try again." Harry narrowed his eyes. If the teacher wanted a battle of wills, he'd give him exactly that.

By the end of class Harry's head was pounding from the repeated battles of will. Even with his qi healing his consciousness power it still hurt.

"Mr. Potter 15 points to Gryffindor for the most improvement I've seen from a wizard without talent in charms." Harry nodded and the cunning glint in Flitwick's eyes vanished with the next class.

…

"I talked to my brothers and they have no idea why all the teachers are picking on you Harry. They said that McGonagall has your needles framed on her office wall." Harry sat down and nodded barely listening to Ron. His head was returning to normal as he cycled qi. Today had kicked his arse.

"Harry could you do that thing you did last time. I tried out the battle of wills thing with one of the Patel twins." Hermione said.

Harry sighed and placed his hand on her head. She shivered as his qi swept through her.

…

"Ccc lass t today ww we are lll earning aa bout tt the gg great old ones."

Harry sat through the class thinking about an eight eyed shadow that lead him to the third-floor corridor.

…

Harry walked behind Hagrid as they passed over a ditch. The forest was abuzz with magical life. Pixies assaulted birds dragging them into their nests to be devoured. Spiders watched from the treetops while spinning webs and trapping prey. The further in the forest Hagrid led him the more monsters prowled.

"Hey Harry, are you keeping up ok?" Hagrid asked.

"You can go faster if you want, I'm not falling behind." He was tempted to get away and explore further himself. There were things in this forest older than the castle. As he walked, they stirred, shifting, and opening sleepy eyes.

"We shan't go much faster. The land gets dangerous the further we go. Uranus's Centaur tribe camps only a few kilos north. They aren't friendly towards wizards. Further north still where the lands grow cold there is a frost giant colony. They haven't seen a wizard or human in near fifty years." Hagrid said.

"If they haven't seen any of us in fifty years shouldn't we check on them?" Harry asked.

"Nah Harry, they leave proof they exist. They wouldn't take kindly to us stepping on their land." Hagrid said.

"That's a shame, I want to see them. Are we going to see any centaurs tonight?" Harry asked.

"Aye, we might. If we do don't go staring it makes them anxious." Hagrid said.

"How much land does this forest hold?" Harry asked.

"This land has no end I've ever reached. Once you pass through the fairy gate the land stretches forever divided and different according to time off day. The Uranus tribe like to think they guard it. The poor sods. If something from the other side of that gate wanted in here, nothing they could do." Hagrid said.

"Why don't they want something over here?" Harry asked.

"The magic on this side is low. They'd either hibernate or die if they wound up on our side." Hagrid said.

"Can we go through the fairy gate?" Harry asked.

"No Harry that's where the centaurs send those who break their laws." Hagrid said.

"Has a wizard been there recently?" Harry asked.

Of course, with the right preparations a wizard can survive for days on the other side. Potions for scent blocking, an invisibility cloak, and luck can get a wizard back alive." Hagrid said.

Hagrid paused his head turned as he heard something. "Harry stay here, I don't want you to get hurt if anything happens stay behind me." From the bushes a white coat unicorn burst from among the trees with a cloaked figure clinging to its back.

Harry didn't think. His sixth sense flared, and he reacted. He launched a haymaker at the creature smashing into its torso. Harry felt flesh give as the creature shot from the unicorn's back. The horse's body got in the way of a follow up.

The creature turned its head and Harry's scar burned. Hagrid shot his crossbow putting a bolt into the shadowy creature's chest. It turned and vanished between the trees.

The unicorn collapsed as silver blood spurted from its neck wound. Harry placed a hand on it and tried to fix it. The creature struggled until Harry pushed it off its hooves and on the soft mud. Harry knew he had to slow down the bleeding, so he put pressure on the wound. He thought about trusting his wild will to heal it but rejected the thought. Consciousness power required knowledge and certainty to be effective.

Harry's hand slowed down the bleeding, as he pumped qi from his cultivation base into the creature. He didn't know a thing about healing and could only add his qi to the unicorn. The young qi expert poured his cultivation into the healing effort and used his sixth sense to find some enlightenment.

The unicorn's heart had been beating erratically before. With the application of qi her heart began to return to normal. She was dying still but her heart still beat. This was not puppetry; it was something else. His qi stretched through her and he felt her consciousness fall into his qi.

Harry heard the beat join his own heart as the body rapidly cooled beneath his hand. He was covered in blood that now belonged to him. Her body too belonged to him. He looked up to see Hagrid gone. He'd gone for help as Harry tried to slow the unicorn's inevitable death.

In his hand a white light appeared. It was a formless magic a Dao of purity. Just manifesting it, he could feel the strain on his body healing. He couldn't save the first unicorn, but he could save the next one. When the white light settled on the unicorn all the silver blood flowed into the magic.

From the purist white light, the spell gained silvery cords. With the addition of those cords the spell gained stability. There was more to the magic, but Harry knew it would take time and meditation.

An arrow smashed into his qi barrier piercing it and pricking his shoulder. The large centaur holding the bow quickly shot Harry five more times

Each arrow cracked and split his barrier. Each attack did a little more damage as his barrier weakened before he could compensate. By the sixth shot his barrier counted for nothing and an arrow lodged itself in his thigh. His femur threatened to split and crack. Harry stumbled back tripping over the unicorn's corpse.

The consciousness power within his qi felt sheepish at the blunder. It used his qi to send spinning white light through his body. The unicorn seemed to search his consciousness for a proper name. Purity Spiral was the name it picked.

Harry used his good leg to stab into the ground and stop his fall midway. In the blink of the eye Harry shot forward and smashed into the centaur with his elbow. The blow had the force of a car jousting war hammer. The centaur's guts, muscles, and spine were shredded. It dropped, its four legs shook, and it went into shock.

He slowly ripped out each barbed arrow. Each arrow pulled was tore flesh it. Harry ground his teeth together, as he ripped the arrows out. Purity spiral did its work restoring his body back to working order. With all six arrows out of his body, he slowly healed from the injuries.

"I'm too late to stop you from killing him. It seems mars was bright indeed Harry Potter." Harry turned his head to see a centauress. He looked her over while the unicorn consciousness approved. She had a roan coat and an oval face. Her hair was long and red. She was around his age if a bit older. He bent his leg and then paused.

"I'm going to approach you don't be startled." Harry said with a soft voice. He took a step using a portion of his real speed. After he appeared beside her, she turned her head. She looked at him with shock.

"You moved before my foresight told me where you'd appear." She muttered. Harry didn't feel like preening over something as casual as taking a step.

"You know my name what's yours?" Harry asked.

"My name is Chinosis, I'm here to warn you Harry Potter. The shadow isn't your friend. To chase after her will end in the world's destruction." She said. "If your lust needs taming, then you may rely upon me."

"What if I need to rely upon your foresight?" Harry said. He turned to the dead centaur.

"I was to be his newest mare. Now I belong to the warrior who defeated him in honorable combat." Chinosis said. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to stick around much longer but prophecy was often an issue.

"Who will I fight next and what do I need to know to win?" Harry asked.

"To learn something so intimate we must experience a form of intimacy together." Harry took a step back from her.

"Relax Harry Potter for now hold my hand." Before he could grab her hand, he heard the gallop of hooves.

"Harry Potter back away from the voice of Uranus!" Harry paused as another group of centaurs galloped out. To his left and right armed centaurs took up positions.

"Hey enough, I didn't call you lot here to attack a student." Hagrid yelled.

"He's killed one of our own Hagrid. By law he's ours to do with as we will." One of the centaurs said.

"Madorian deserved his fate. The boss Mare ordered me to stop him, but he'd already sealed his fate before I arrived. Now my stallion is dead, and the wizard is mine." Chinosis said.

Harry thought quickly for a way out of this mess. He wasn't going to spend the next few days at the mercy of an alien group. He knew next to nothing about centaurs but knew that he was fast. Retreating was his best option.

"Hagrid will be fine." Chinosis assured him.

Harry moved as arrows flew and bow string twanged. He drove his body through the trees westward. His freshly healed bones groaned as he left the centaurs behind. An arrow cracked his barrier and slammed into his back before he leapt across a ditch.

He emerged from the woods and fell to his knees near Hagrid's hut. After removing the arrows purity spiral healed the wound. His qi was beginning to take a dip. Healing his wounds had taken 50% of his qi.

…

The following days class grew more difficult. Each of his teachers increased his workload expecting Harry to perform better. Harry had started practicing in his free time despite the headaches.

He was still going out with Hagrid at night. Hagrid mentioned the centaurs have begrudgingly dropped the charges. Apparently, the boss mare had more influence in the tribe than expected.

Harry was in the library working on a paper about the historical differences between potions and alchemy. He quickly scanned over the paper he'd written before erasing the ink. Professor Snape had called his paper on the difference between the drought of the living death and the inevitable death potion exceptionally average. It was so exceptionally average that Harry was forced to do another paper.

The invisible ink spell was one of the most useful spells Harry had learned. With it he could erase lines of ink and improve the paper. It allowed a measure of line editing to ensure his papers fit the criteria with as few words as possible.

He'd found his consciousness power had increased by leaps and bounds. His force of will may have been a 10 before and now it was around 89. When he actively drew essence the shear amount had drastically increased. It was all thanks to his teachers.

Every battle of wills against Flitwick, every extra task from McGonagall, and every long paper from Snape increased his concentration power.

….

In only a few months Harry had increased his concentration power from 89 to 110. McGonagall could throw a collection of wood blocks and Harry could turn them all into perfect needles. With a swish and flick Harry could stop all those needles from hitting the ground. Magic was concentration power incarnate. It effected his control over his qi and his mind.

Harry approached the door on the third-floor corridor and opened it. He didn't have an unlocking spell, so he used wingardiem leviosa. Once the tumblers in the lock clicked into place, he opened the door to the Cerberus room.

Author's note:

Hey, thank you I'm going to turn this in and edit it maybe tomorrow. Have a merry Christmas and happy holidays.


	11. Chapter 11

**Edited 05/02/2020**

"Mr. Potter that is not how you levitate multiple objects. Did you want to put all your eggs in one basket?" Professor Flitwick said. Harry begrudgingly focused on his teacher's council.

The reprimand was light in the grand scheme of things. Harry was having difficulty levitating more than three objects at once. He found it easier to levitate multiple objects together. It was easier to picture them all as a singular group instead of multiple objects. In his mind they were feathers instead of three feathers. While seemingly a distinction without a difference that wasn't the case. The users perception of the difference played a role in it.

Professor Flitwick levitated three feathers and launched them at Harry. In turn Harry waved his wand to battle the pint-sized Professor for control. While he battled for the control of one feather and almost took it the other two flew unencumbered. When they touched his chest, Harry realized he'd lost.

"Mr. Potter, now do you understand. While battling another wizard its best to present multiple targets to avoid a true battle of control. I didn't need every single feather to touch you to declare victory." The point hit home. Controlling multiple objects was superior to controlling a group.

"Ron you're saying the spell wrong. Its levi oh sah not levi oh so." Ron's face went red in embarrassment. A storm was brewing between them. Harry sighed and went back to work.

He focused on the feathers lifting two separate feathers. Two was his limit for now. Professor Flitwick waved his wand and they battled for control over two constructs. Despite the amount of qi flowing through Harry's body, he quickly developed a migraine. When the class ended his head was truly pounding hard.

"Can you believe how bossy she is?" Ron asked. "I mean mate, she really is a bird with how much chirping she's been up to." Harry felt his head pound with each word. His qi was slowly easing the pain, but he had over worked his mind this time. He sensed Hermione distancing herself from them but paid it no mind.

….

At the Halloween feast Hermione was nowhere to be seen. That was strange, normally she was stuffing her little face with the rest of Gryffindor. It wasn't like her to be absent. Something had to be wrong.

Harry stood up and began to walk towards an exit. Just as his hand touched the door, Professor Quirrell burst in.

"Troll in the dungeon. There is a troll in the Dungeon. I just thought you should know." Harry found it weird that a troll could enter the castle through the dungeon. Then again apparently Quirrell had a live troll present for his classes.

Harry adjusted his goal tacking on killing the troll if it crossed his path. In the distraction Harry pulled open the door and started head to the girls' lavatory. With his sixth sense it wasn't difficult to find her trail. It would have been easier if he had asked about her. He added that suggestion to next time.

He made it to the girl's lavatory quickly. Hermione was the only one inside. Harry could hear her weeping from the hallway.

"Hermione, its Harry I'm here." Harry said.

"Go away Harry, I don't want to talk to anyone." Hermione said. Her voice was hoarse from crying and barely carried over. He sighed and sat down.

"I'll be right here." Harry said.

"I don't want to talk Harry." Hermione cried out.

"We don't have to talk. I'll just wait here for you. I'll wait all night if that's what you need." Harry said.

"Why can't the other boys be like you? They are so immature. Ron can't even take criticism." Hermione said.

"No, he can't he's embarrassed at being average at magic. His pride is on the line and he couldn't afford to be seen as needing help. Not a friend to the great Harry Potter. That's how I see it." Harry said.

"The teachers are harder on you than anyone. You're better than the rest of us and instead of giving you more points, they make you fail." Hermione said, her voice raw. Harry chuckled at that letting his voice echo through the halls.

Harry stood up and walked into the bathroom. "Come on Hermione, all sitting on a toilet will do for you is give your bum hemorrhoids. Let's get back to the common room. There is supposed to be a troll in the dungeon." Harry said.

"Harry what's that strange smell?" Harry moved ducking down as a club smashed through several stalls.

He dug through the fallen debris finding Hermione's limp hand. Harry held her hand and pushed purity spiral through it. A white glow suffused her body as white qi flowed into her. Harry swished his wand moving the fallen panels and metal doors off her. He heard her suck in a breath. The relief that Harry experienced was equal to any nirvana. He couldn't have made it through Hermione's death. He swore then and there to keep her safe at his side from then on.

The troll roared and leapt at Harry. Its massive club tore through the ceiling tiles as it descended. Harry swished his wand levitating the club out of the troll's hands. Twelve sever all appeared behind him before four fired at the monster. They ripped through the troll cleaving through leather, flesh, bone, and sinew.

Harry hungrily ripped into the troll sensing its connection to fairy kind. The troll took a step back as green tendrils dug through its flesh. Even as the troll's natural regeneration kicked in, Harry fed. Harry wanted more, he craved it with every muscle and bone. More sever all converged on the troll ripping through it and consuming the creature.

His eyes glowed green as his qi pulsed and rotated in preparation to refine the troll's essence into qi. This was it for the troll its body crumbled in on itself only skin remaining. Twelve orbs of sever all entered his body and he rapidly refined the troll's meager offering. He received barely a percent of improvement despite the care he'd taken to consume all of it.

Hermione's eyes met his and she shivered in his grasp. He didn't know why but he grabbed her shoulders and kissed her. His blood pumped and her body fit easily against his own. With every second he held her he knew he had her. There was a life debt between them, and he could feel the cord bind them tightly together.

"What are we going to do now?" Hermione asked. Harry placed a finger to her lip to hushed her as he thought. Dumbledore and Professor Snape knew of his abilities. He could trust them that wasn't an issue. The caretaker Filtch had entered the second stage of refinery recently. Fitlch's sixth sense was active, if he felt the qi Harry used then it could be a problem.

The thought of killing Filtch to ensure Hermione's safety came to mind. He didn't find it unpleasant. His goal realigned to keep Hermione safe, he wouldn't lose her. It was time to study and acquire the consciousness power needed to use alchemy.

Still the thought of killing Filtch filled him with a spike of dopamine he'd never experience. The pleasure came from fulfilling his own design in the most direct way possible. That didn't mean there were no other methods to fulfill it. As jolly as killing would make him, there were better methods. It was risky but diplomacy was a step he was willing to take.

What were the odds that an old man denied power and forced to watch as students used power he'd never have abused and harmed him with it, would be bitter? Surely, he wouldn't be resentful. Perish the thought he'd never use that power to get his revenge.

Harry knew he would handle the situation carefully. A knife in the hands of an alley was better than in the hands of an enemy.

…

The teachers arrived to find the empty skin sack of the troll. The poor creature had been no match for Harry. Even now Harry refined the stolen essence as the Unicorn consciousness within him reveled at the death of the troll. Trolls ate unicorns, enough said.

Hermione held his arm tightly with both her hands. Her emotions were a swirl of chaos that confused even his sixth sense. He paid it no mind. After he got out of this situation, he'd start training in consciousness power night and day.

"What happened here?" McGonagall asked.

Harry levitated the rolled-up skin of the troll. It was covered in holes and ruined in places. Harry had invaded the creature's body and broke its flesh down into essence. Killing it had made him feel accomplished. Never in his life had a kill felt so justified. His new passenger could have had something to do with it.

"I killed it." Harry knew that wasn't enough of an explanation. "Hermione wasn't feeling well, so I left to check on her when the troll attacked. I killed it then that's all I can say." Harry said.

"It's just skin Mr. Potter, there must be more to this story." McGonagall protested.

"Please Minverva, Mr. Potter doesn't know how to answer you in a satisfactory way. Most first years don't have the focus to use magic around such a powerful creature." The headmaster said.

Author's note - This is something to hold you over. I'm going to work on the rest of first year tomorrow and finish it. If not by tomorrow, then it should be done by Monday.


	12. Chapter 12

**Edited 05/02/2020**

When he killed the troll, he absorbed its essence and minced the rest into a slurry. The teachers didn't arrive in time to see the last of the troll's body slide down the drain. Mincing troll bones was easier than he thought. Even Hermione was so focused on the troll's empty skin, she didn't notice the bloody soup sliding passed her feet.

Subterfuge was the deadliest weapon in Harry's arsenal. He'd use it well and in this case, he'd watch and study before he struck.

Hermione POV

She was worried about Harry and herself. Hermione searched the library's history section for any mention of a white light, or those green balls. She remembered the feel of his hand. Behind the magic and the white light healing her, there was steel. His hand felt as she imagined the terminator's hand would, warm skin covering unforgiving steel.

Then there was the confidence. She'd seen boys acting cocky and showing false bravado. This wasn't the same. It wasn't bragging or showing off. It was like her dad squishing a spider in her room. To her it was very brave, to him it was no big deal.

After the troll incident Harry was scaring her. When she turned her head, she saw him watching. He waited outside when she went to the loo and stayed with her in the library. She was sure he thought he was being protective, but it was getting creepy.

McGonagall said the school was safe, so it was right. There was no reason to have Harry watch her constantly. Christmas was on its way and she'd be leaving soon when she woke up from her bed to see Harry. He placed a finger to his lips. His eyes weren't just green they glowed in the dark. It was weird not magical weird she'd read about magical quirks. This was just Harry weird.

When she saw those glowing eyes, she thought back to when he kissed her. Those powerful arms wrapped around her and she felt safe. That was before the change in Harry.

"Why are you here Harry? This is the girl's dorm." Hermione said. It was true and no matter how powerful Harry might be, the rules were the rules. Harry raised an eyebrow and gave a half smile. It made her stomach feel weird.

"I took a break from studying." Harry said with a smirk. That's right he didn't sleep, Hermione shook the fogginess from her head and glared at him. If she didn't set boundaries now, then Harry wouldn't respect them later.

"No Harry this is the girl's dorm that means you can't come in. I don't want to see you in here again or waiting on me when I go to the loo." The smirk left his face and Hermione was scared he'd turn violent. Instead, he sat on her bed and his green eyes dimmed slightly.

"You're my first friend Hermione. Do you remember that?" How could she forget? That didn't mean he could follow her around and smother her.

"Yes Harry, I know I'm your best friend." Hermione said.

"Hermione, you would have died if I hadn't decided to wait on you in the loo. You're so fragile a mere beast like a troll could kill you. It's a bit early but I have a Christmas gift for you. You like books, right?" Hermione rolled her eyes at the goofy smile that appeared on his face. She wasn't going to forget the stalking.

Harry pulled ten volumes of books from a bag on his hip. She eyed it conspiratorially.

"Where did you get that Harry?" Hermione asked. She could already imagine all the books she'd be able to carry with her if she had one.

"Don't get greedy Hermione. I'm giving you secret knowledge that can make you powerful. The least you can do is be thankful. From what I can tell the other guy is only selling the first three volumes and keeping the last seven to himself." Harry said. She was confused what did any of this mean?"

"Study them Hermione, they'll make you less fragile." She wanted to protest but he was gone. He'd vanished like a shadow leaving her only with his present.

…

Christmas break arrived, and Harry found Filtch harvesting several plants highly saturated with essence. The older man moved releasing a green glow. Harry watched him carefully. Filtch manipulated the plants into partially refining and storing essence. Harry analyzed the magic quickly realizing it was an offshoot of puppetry. Filtch took control of the plants and ordered them to cultivate. But there were plants that he did not control. They also stored their own essence.

Harry decided to mark this spot and encourage Ron's brothers to prank it. Filtch was at the second rank of refinery. It only took the old man three months. What was interesting was the man's appearance. Filtch was growing younger.

After withdrawing his own cultivation base, he decided to take Filtch's magic to a new level. Harry traveled far into the forest near where the Uranus tribe resided. This area was known for the fierce wild boars, hordes of pixies, and massive deer. Wolves prowled the night and ancient creatures still lived.

It was here that Harry placed his strings on an elder yew. After a slight battle of wills Harry was able to dominate the tree and direct it. Harry forced the ancient tree to cultivate. Filtch had his plants merely store essence. Harry would have the tree store and refine qi. The great tree barely had the consciousness power to support such a venture until it produced qi.

After the great yew was a success Harry moved on to other great trees. He found colossal oaks, pines, and cedars. The deer consumed the acorns adding qi to their bodies. The wolves ate the deer absorbing their qi. Then the centaurs killed the wolves and took their pelts. In a few days the qi economy was created.

With the amount of qi flowing through the forest the essence became purer. When summer came, and the insects fed off the plants and the birds fed upon them, the birds would carry their qi further south. The qi would mutate them even as they spread their richer essence through the world. In total the world's essence would become many times purer in the next few years.

"Why change the world like this Harry Potter? Aren't you losing your advantage?" Chinosis asked.

"Did you know I would do this?" Harry asked.

"The stars are right for a change Harry. I knew you would start a great change but how you would do it was immaterial. Why change things at all?" Chinosis asked.

"I have a friend in my year her name is Hermione Granger. She's weak, soft, and very mortal. I gave her all my knowledge on cultivation, but I've come to realize it's not enough. She isn't me and will probably stick to the books. Then, I thought about all the teachers and busy bodies who protect people like Hermione. If they had a cultivation base maybe they'd be able to protect her better." Harry said.

"There are many weak people who will use their new power to strike out. Many will suffer with this change to the world. Mars shines bright. The essence saturation in the world will increase." Chinosis said. Harry turned his head to the centauress seer. He took a step and appeared beside her.

Harry placed a hand on her coat feeling his hand dip beneath the thick fur. He walked around her brushing around her rump and coming back to her other side. His steps were so soft they didn't make an imprint in the snow.

"Mars was dim for fifty years. It's time for it to brighten. Let chaos return the world to balance." Harry said.

"There are many who still worship the gods. They will strike against the emergence of immortals. This will be a holy war and a war for survival." Chinosis said.

"Why are you helping me? What's in it for you?" Harry asked in a growl.

He watched the centauress for any hint of subterfuge.

"I want a particular future to happen between us. Through my work my kind will equal humans in the new world." Harry thought about killing her then and there. There could be no equal to humanity. He could sense the traces of god's blood in her body.

"Through you we can leave the taint of Uranus behind." Chinosis stated. Harry crossed his arms to his chest. Chinosis smiled at him before galloping away.

…

Harry spent the rest of the day cultivating in the forest. When the qi passed from tree to small mammals, purer essence leaked in the transaction. That purer essence was what Harry wanted. With twelve orbs of sever all, he pulled in more essence than ever before. With his increased consciousness power his pull was greater than ever.

In hours, he flew through the midpoint of refinery and reached the great circle. His refinery spun around, and his qi increased in strength. Waves of power flowed from his body melting the snow. Tiny bolts of bio energy flew from his body striking the ground. Harry opened his eyes as they glowed brighter than ever. Then he heard a cracking sound.

Harry felt himself reach the seventh rank of refinery. The qi in his body began to condense the time was coming. He'd prepare his qi and develop his first layer of foundry soon.

On his way back to the school, he saw a figure leave. It moved stealthily covering more ground than any mortal should. Harry hopped up into a nearby tree and watched the creature. The unicorn's consciousness revealed it to be its attacker. Harry kept track of the creature as it traveled through the forest.

There was a chance Harry realized it could be Filtch and he dared not use his sixth sense. This speed was comparable to a third rank at least. Harry wasn't prepared for a confrontation between qi experts yet. He wasn't sure if he could kill his own kind.

From tree to tree Harry moved with barely a noise. He kept his eyes on the creature below him. It moved as if with two minds. It would go in one direction then suddenly see something behind it and move the other. Harry could compare it to a two headed snake.

It quickly found a unicorn foal. The creature didn't hesitate to lunge at the animal. Harry tossed a rock catching the monster in the side of the head. The light throw sent Filtch reeling across the ground. The unicorn foal galloped away at top speed. The thing moved strangely. It acted more like a puppet than actual human puppets. It was sloppily controlled, possibly micromanaged.

Harry leapt to a new tree just as it turned the back of its head towards him. He felt in his pockets and counted five rocks.

The monster leapt on the trail and Harry shook his head. If this thing was Filtch then Harry had little to worry about. He reasoned the volume Filtch had was edited to ensure the qi expert never reached the author's level. That could explain the madness but not the hunger for unicorn blood.

Just before the monster leapt after the foal like a lion, Harry hit the back of Filtch's knee with a rock. The black clad creature cursed and grabbed its snow-white leg. Harry took his time to memorize the black clad creature's movements and compared them to the caretaker.

Harry concluded this wasn't Filtch. If it wasn't Filtch, then why did this humanoid move so quickly? What were the odds of a rogue cultivator coming here? Harry doubted unicorn blood was yet a stable in the English immortal's diet. Harry let himself drop to the ground without making a sound.

He dashed forward moving towards the creature's six. It whirled around pointing its wand before screaming out a spell. Harry tossed his next pebble hitting the wizard in his thumb joint. The wand fell just as the spell fired out. Harry seemed to phase out of reality as he dodged a stream of red light. Just as the spell passed over him, he dashed up to the wizard.

Harry smashed his fist into the creature's midsection feeling bones snap. In an instant, he caught up with the wizard's body for a follow up.

Before Harry could deliver the death blow the wizard popped out of existence. At the time, he didn't know that the anti-apparition wards ended near the centaur village.


	13. Chapter 13

**Edited 05/02/2020**

One cold night over winter break Harry made his way out of the common room and found a peculiar room with a lit fireplace and mirror. Harry quickly stepped up to the fireplace to thaw his freezing feet. As he waited for his feet to warm back to life, he saw himself in the mirror. Only it wasn't his current self.

What Harry saw was himself surrounded books on alchemy. Some he recognized others he didn't. The form of himself he saw was stronger than his current self. The Harry in the mirror was blessed with enlightenment.

Harry took out a pen and a piece of parchment and copied down the titles. From there, he turned his back on the mirror and left. He saw what he wanted most in the mirror, a path forward.

After making his way to the library, he found each title on his list. Most were alchemy, some were magic forging, and others were curse breaking. Each book was vastly more complicated than his year. When he arrived back to his dorm, he saw a small collection of presents on his bed. Absently, he put on a sweater from Ron's mom, as he turned the pages in his alchemy tome.

After finishing each tome, he went back through collecting notes. Within each tome was the knowledge to get started in each field. Curse breaking would require more study, but it would eventually come to him. Harry was certain he'd gain the understanding he needed soon.

Harry returned to the mirror. This time under the cover of an invisibility cloak. In the mirror Harry saw himself forging blades of impeccable power. They dazzled with a gleam as if starlight was captured in their blades. These weapons crafted by green flames and the winds of rocs held the power of severing.

"Careful Harry many wizards have been enchanted by this mirror. Have you read the frame?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Harry turned to the frame and read it quickly. The words were off. Standing on his hands allowed Harry to view the warning.

"I show not your face but your desire. I guessed as much. Knowing what I want is very useful. Professor is the mirror a permanent feature here." Harry asked.

"Alas no Harry the mirror will only be here for a short time." Harry viewed the mirror and saw himself looking into the mirror. Knowing what he wanted was simply too useful a tool to give up. He looked to the headmaster and let his expression soften.

"Professor is there a place in Hogwarts for blacksmithing?" Harry asked. The older man brushed his beard.

"Yes, there is an old smithy yard in Hogwarts though it is currently in disuse. I'd advise you to be careful. Many a promising young wizard has been burned from the practice." The headmaster said.

The smithy was open to the elements and filled with rotten old forges. Some were made of stone and held up well against the test of time. It was one of these smithies that Harry claimed as his own. Harry heard a pop and chunks of raw iron appeared in the ore refinery.

Getting from raw iron ore to steel wasn't an easy process. There were many steps between the process and would take time. He was going to sever the impurities from the iron and infuse it with less than 1% carbon to create steel. More pops resounded adding coal, and limestone on wooden pallets.

With a piece of flint and an old knife, he slammed them together getting a spark. From there he dug up some straw and waved his wand counterclockwise. "Siccitas," it was a drought spell. It was a famous dark spell used by roman wizards. Now it was used to dry out kindling. With a few strokes of metal to flint a spark shot out and the straw caught fire. He quickly moved it to the smithy. "oxygeni satietatem, Harry spun his wand in a slow circular motion feeding oxygen to the fire. It was one of the spells used by the Spanish inquisition to burn muggles threatening the statute of secrecy. It made the flames extra hot. In Harry's case it made the flames catch the coal he'd fed them.

All the spells he'd used so far were in the beginner's blacksmith text. Ipsum satietatum was the next spell on his list. If used properly, he'd be able add just the right amount of carbon to the iron. He added some limestone to the mix to further purify the iron. He began to circulate his wand drawing in the carbon he'd need to turn the iron into steel. Then he took his wand and wave it like the conductor for an orchestra. From there, he activated the spell ipsum imperium. It was a control spell for carbon.

Hours flew by, as he poured the iron into a mold and added just a little carbon. From there, he decided to add his own qi to the mix. While essence was the tiniest particle of creation itself qi was also quite small. He was curious about its interactions with steel in the shape of a sword. Something designed for severing. With a swish and flick he levitated the blade from its mold and quenched it in oil provided by the convenient pops.

As the steel quenched, he could sense the blade force out most of his qi. The blade took on a faded green appearance. Once the blade was cool, he pulled it from the oil and hammered a handle onto it. From there Harry took the sword to a dilapidated bench grinder. Over the next few minutes Harry sharpened the blade.

Harry held up the sword before swinging it. At the midpoint in the swing the blade snapped in two.

With a sigh Harry went through the process of melting the blade back down and started over. Harry visited the mirror a few more times hoping to gain insight, but he only saw more books. In a few days' time classes would begin and Harry would have less time to forge.

After three more attempts, Harry made a sword without adding his qi. The blade formed with no trouble but there was nothing special about it. The green tinge wasn't there nor was the qi. Harry didn't feel any pride in mere steel. He wanted something that was his own, or did he?

Harry revisited the mirror and saw the blades. They didn't have the green rippling pattern they were weapons all their own. The mirror was saying Harry didn't want swords only of his Dao. That wasn't the Dao of forging. He was tainting the forge path with the path of severing.

In the forge once again, Harry fed his qi to the flame. The flames quickly took on an electric green appearance as they burned bright. Harry sensed the flames absorb essence and burn away the impurities leaving only ash behind. As the flames burned, they leaked pure qi letting it rise and add to the impure essence. Soon the forge was filled with ever purer essence.

The amount was too small to matter to the world at large. Harry began shoveling coal and iron ore into the forge. Harry waited for the Dao to tell him how the blade should turn out.

He continued to wait as the ore melted and he added limestone. After a moment, he decided to make something a bit less complicated than a sword. Once the process was settled again Harry sat down and focused on his sixth sense.

The green flame was burning at a constant pace. It blasted the iron with high quality essence which passed through the iron and melded with the world. The iron needed something. It was changing but it needed another force to finish the change. Essence wasn't qi, it only left a hole, an empty spot.

Harry was getting close to solving the problem with his forging.

With further research, he learned a few techniques to better his weapons. After pouring the molten steel into a mold for stakes, he prepared to quench them in unicorn blood. The forest was lousy with the stuff. Since biological creatures naturally shied away from the blood and it was full of consciousness power, it was perfect. The essence in the stakes acted as a buffer protecting the steel. When they were quenched in the unicorn blood, they became cursed. Anything struck with such a weapon would have the bad luck of drinking unicorn blood.

Well Harry had the consciousness of a unicorn within his qi. That might protect him from the curse.

Harry waved his wand using the levitate charm to hold many of the foot-long stakes aloft. They glowed with a slight silver light. With a soft flick of his wand the stakes banished to a wooden target he'd made. From that point, a random bolt of lightning flashed striking the stump. In minutes the stump was ash and the stakes remained pristine and silver. Harry quickly realized that these weapons would be useless for anything but killing.

As the last days of winter break passed him by, he worked on making nails and broad heads. His skills with forging had increased quickly with the help of magic. He wasn't ready to make a sword again yet.

The mirror was gone before he could use it again. Harry didn't know how to feel about that. It had become an important tool. When he needed new information, it was convenient. It gave him titles and cut down his search time.

The night before the train would return, Harry took a trip into the forest. As he made his usual rounds near the dwindling unicorn herd, his sixth sense flared. Harry leapt to the side as an inky black curse hit his barrier, before sliding through and hitting him in the shoulder.

Pain shot through his body, as he felt a sizzling sensation spread rapidly. The scent of burning flesh filled the air as something leaked through his arm. Drops of bubbling flesh left his arm as his veins turned green. His skin bubbled and melted away and in moments he could see the bone in his arm. He opened his mouth and screamed at the sight.

The figure in black emerged from his hiding place. Walking backwards towards Harry. Green light swirled at the tip of his wand as the figure pointed his wand backwards. The creature's arm popped dislocating causing the front of the creature to release a pained whimper.

"Silence or I'll treat you to greater pain." The covered face said. Harry's head felt like it was full of cotton. Purity spiral had already eaten through half of his qi reserves to stop the spreading. Another black spell flashed striking Harry in the leg. Harry screamed as his flesh sizzled and his blood became acid.

It was only when the pain made him want to black out did, he think of a solution. He pointed his wand at his body. "Finite incantum," His blood returned to normal and purity spiral quickly charged into his wounds. Another black spell fired. Harry placed his foot on the ground and leapt away.

The damage to his left leg wasn't much but his left arm was in shambles. Harry struggled his way up a tree as a cutting spell sliced into it. As the tree fell, he scrambled away as the figure gave chase. His arm was healing rapidly but his qi was dwindling. Harry was running on empty. He moved downhill under fire. The edge of a cutting curse hit his side cutting deep.

Harry pocketed his wand and put pressure on the wound as he ran. Mind blinding pain hit him and for a moment, he was frozen before his qi drove the presence away. With dwindling qi Harry moved for the only safe place he could think of, the river that flowed from the forest through the fairy gate.

It was just one of those things Hagrid warned him about. A detail he hadn't put much thought in before. Another black spell missed his head by millimeters. If that had hit him, no amount of healing would matter. As Harry sprinted the figure moved at a sedate pace. He knew where Harry was heading and steered him towards it.

Harry made it to the wooden bridge Hagrid made for easy travel over the small part of Cocytus the river that flowed through the fairy gate. He stopped in front of the quick moving river. It was filled with chunks of ice broken off from upstream. The water was undoubtedly frigid and with open wounds, it would be even worse. Harry turned to see the two-faced creature approach him. Its wand glowed with green light.

From his side pouch, Harry pulled a stake from his bag. It was the only one he'd carried with him. The figure in black approached no further. Harry felt his finger twitch on his left hand. The arm was coming back quickly. The air here was thick with high quality essence. Harry's refinery was working rapidly to replace the qi he'd lost.

"I didn't imagine you'd be so impressive." The creature said in a whispering voice. It flicked its wand firing two inky black spells. Harry twisted and dodged them losing ground.

"In a duel every spell is must lead into the next one. The art of the duel is the lead your opponent into your design." Two more inky black spells fired, and the creature flicked his wand again. Harry dodged the spells only for another hidden spell to split open his thigh. While Harry was reeling the creature thrust his wand. Harry felt a powerful impact smash into his diaphragm.

Harry took a step back touching nothing. His qi was practically dry. Frigid Cocytus waited below ever patient. His wounds kept mounting with no hope of replenishing enough qi to survive. Harry pulled his wand thinking quickly there was one curse he knew well. "Siccitas," Harry yelled bending the full might of his consciousness power and his remaining cultivation base behind the spell. A blindingly yellow spell launched itself from his wand.

Instead of dodging his attacker extended his wand and caught the spell at the tip. "Your knowledge of the dark leaves much to be desired. Perhaps you'll do better in your next life." Harry flicked his wrist and the creature froze. A silver stake stuck out from the creature's back.

A smile spread across Harry's face. "How unfortunate for you." Harry said. The figure in black pulled the stake free as silver blood leaked from the wound. The creature pulled a small yellow potion from his robe and ingested it. The wound closed.

"How fortunate, I was prepared for such an eventuality. Good attempt a lesser wizard wouldn't have been ready." The yellow beam shot back, and Harry dodged it only for a final thrust of the figure in black's wand to send Harry over the edge. Harry pointed his wand at the creature with words for a spell on his lips. "Silencio," the words died on Harry's lips as he fell screaming silently.

The cold hungrily soaked into his body as Harry was caught in the current. He held tightly on his wand as the river took him far away. As he flowed away in the current, he felt his qi finally start to recover. It was the qi of the seventh stage of refinery that saved his life and kept him from drowning. If Harry had been a stage lower, he'd be dead suffocated in the river. It was the purer essence in the forest that helped him regain qi quickly. In the river, he was carried past that gate of fairy and into the old forest.

He couldn't help but remember Hagrid's warning. 'Remember Harry don't go over to the lands of fairy time is funny there. A day here is ten there and there be monsters older than the earth there.'

After the river took him deep into the old forest, he arrived at an ancient bank. Harry crawled out of the water shivering and spluttering water from his lungs. His hands dug through the sharp shell covered shores making his way up to dry land. The shells cut into his frigid hands as he made his way up.

Wand in hand, he pointed it at some brush he collected. Nothing happened, he continued to point his wand and will it to fire off the spell. He couldn't do it even with all his will. Harry stripped himself of his clothes and dug into the soil. Handful after handful of acidic clay flew, as he made himself a burrow.

With the last of his strength, he made his way into his den and closed his eyes to rest. Harry opened his eyes to his dirt covered haven hours later. His qi was recovering rapidly. Now he had roughly 20% of his reserves restored. His body was back in peak shape. 'One more thing Harry in the old woods directions don't matter. The only way out is to find a key.'

The only way to get a key was find it in the old night's castle, the fire giant's keep, ice giant's mountain, or the Drow underground. Hagrid had a key as the groundskeeper. Finding Harry in here was like finding a needle in a haystack thrown randomly in the Sahara Desert. His haven shook as something large began to make its way to Cocytus river for a drink.

Harry crawled from his haven to see a massive scaly green hydra drinking from the river. One of the heads turned to him. "Hey, look guys a snack." The hydra said. The other two heads lifted from the water to look at Harry. Each head was as big around as a beach ball they were thick and green. A wingless dragon like body with a thick heavy tail held the heads supported the heads.

"Wait don't eat me." Harry yelled.

The hydra heads looked to each other. They convened for a moment then lowered to him.

"Speaker child why shouldn't we eat you. What's in it for us?" Harry was at a crossroads. Should he smash the hydra's head or try diplomacy? For the time being he decided that diplomacy was the better outcome.

Harry took a moment to work his jaw. It was great being able to speak again. "I'm a wizard. If need be, I can help you acquire prey." Harry said.

One of the hydra's stuck out its tongue and hissed. It curled around Harry scenting him. Before it returned to its other heads.

"He smells strange but trustworthy. There is one prey we desire that we can't catch. We want to mate with the dragon Gondor. His scales are red as blood and easy to admire. Capture him for us and we will consider you a friend. Do not worry if you fail, Gondor might consider you a present." The hydra said.

The hydra was well over 20m from snout to massive snake body. She moved faster than a creature her size should be able to. Harry could sense small concentrations of magic in her body. He wasn't sure if his magic could damage her.

Harry had a quest to complete for the hydra. Honestly, he needed a guide around this place anyway.

"Where is Gondor's lair?"

Harry found the lair of Gondor. It was a burrow in the side of a cliff. By the claw marks and rock that had melted and hardened, this was dug by Gondor. Harry climbed down the cliff under the watchful eyes of the hydra. She wouldn't let him out of her sight until the deal was concluded.

"Remember we have your scent. If you run, we'll find you." The hydra said.

Harry climbed down the sheer cliff and made his way into Gondor's lair. He crept in silent as a mouse noting the skeletons of lamia and naga. Had the hydra attempted this with other serpents? Harry turned a corner to see a naga girl tending the flames beneath the dragon Gondor's bed. The dragon slept in a bed of heated sand. The naga girl's hood emerged when she saw him approach.

"Don't try it, the master will only kill you or enslave you like he did me." The naga girl warned. She was thin, too thin, her face was emaciated, and some of her scales were falling out. Her hair was burned in places. Harry sighed and took a step forward.

The second he appeared the dragon looked over at him. "Ah, a mammal that defect conned you into capturing me. It's too small for a proper slave. It looks even younger than the others. Slave what age is this mammal?" Gondor asked.

"I'm eleven Mr. Gondor." Harry said.

"A speaker, quaint. You are but a cub did the defect devour your caretakers." The dragon asked with a rumbling voice. Harry could sense a twinge of anger.

Harry stepped to the side as it splashed sand out of its bed. "No sir, I was asked to help her out in exchange for my life. She said if I tried to escape, she'd hunt me down." Harry said.

"I refuse to mate with a defect. My spark is more expensive than she could afford." Harry hopped upon the dragon's bed barely feeling the hot sand.

"Tell me then Mr. Gondor what is a spark and why is it so expensive?" Harry asked.

"Hm, you were given no knowledge only forced to agree. How despicable, it would have been kinder to devour you." Flames appeared in the dragon's mouth. "Would you prefer a quick death? I've grown skilled at killing quickly with my flames." Gondor said.

Harry appeared behind Gondor's head with a quick step. He hung to the edge of the sand bowl with his toes.

"I'd prefer to live. Now tell me about the situation. I feel that I'm lacking in information." Harry said.

"A spark is the core of a dragon it is our knowledge, power, and genetics. After we mate the female often devours our bodies to keep our spark to themselves. It's a necessary evil to limit the chances of inbreeding among our kind. Other species like the defect and the child below often chase us. If they can collect our spark their offspring will inherit dragon abilities." Gondor said. Harry blinked at the moderately large dragon.

"Why would you go through with it if, you would just die?" Harry asked.

"We are a long-lived species? Within each of us is the acceptance that this is the way. We are born knowing that we must sacrifice ourselves to further our species. No male may live beyond fifty summers." That made Harry curious.

"Who gave you're the name Gondor?" Harry asked.

"I am a red male born of a generation that can be divided by five. My name must have Gon in it. My dame gave me the name." The dragon said.

"Would you mind if I stayed the night while I think things over?" Harry asked.

"You may but there is no food for you and my slave hungers for fresh meat. She may strike you and devour you whole." Gondor said. Harry turned to see the naga girl looking at him hungrily.

"I'll be back, I'll find her something to eat." Harry said.

"The Hydra will be a deadlier predator at night. Are you certain you wish to go out?" Gondor asked.

"Sir, I'm much recovered. I'll find your guest a deer or something. She's wasting away." The dragon turned its large head to the naga. More of her scales had fallen out and her hood sagged.

"But I shared my kill with her only six months ago. Do other serpents need to feed more often?"

"Yes, they do. I need to eat at least once a week to remain healthy." The dragon stared perplexed its massive yellow eyes blinking owlishly.

Harry sighed and leapt from the cave. With his qi mostly restored, he was able to jump from the cliff into the tall trees below.

The first creature Harry saw wasn't a deer. It was a massive two horned horse that drove the unicorn consciousness inside Harry wild. A black coated Bicorn feasted on the silvery remains of a unicorn. It calmly feasted with little worry.

Harry dropped down silently from the tree on the back of the bicorn. The equine didn't feel him sit on its back. Despite the unicorn's protests, Harry slipped his hand through the bicorn's black mane. The creature realized something was wrong and suddenly began to buck.

When the bicorn shot its hindlegs up Harry leaned forward as it threw him to the side. The black horse spun ramming its side against a tree and picking up speed. It twisted its horns and Harry put more qi into his barrier. Electricity buzzed across the bicorn's coat steam rose from the mount's nostrils as its fur began to heat up. It reared up bucking in the air before falling backwards. Harry placed a hand on the ground arresting both of their movement. With a light push from his arm the bicorn was back to its feet.

The horse continued to buck and bash itself against trees. Miasma from poisons erupted across its body ineffective against Harry's barrier. As powerful as the unicorn's healing magic was Harry sensed the bicorn was equal in destruction.

After hours of bucking the bicorn started to settle down. Harry rubbed his hand through the bicorn's mane. The bicorn circled back with Harry on its back searching for its kill. They returned to see a group of black furred wolves feeding on the unicorn. Electricity shot between the bicorn's horns.

Harry's sever all orbs appeared behind him. He couldn't manifest them against the figure in black. Harry needed all his qi for healing.

The green orbs shot forward ready to kill off one of the wolves only for the creature to react and jump away. Harry flattened one and launched it watching as before it hit the wolves, they reacted. The wolves began howling and yipping as they surrounded them.

Harry singled one out as his bicorn launched a stream of miasma. Poison filled mists flew off the bicorn targeting the wolves.

While the wolves moved away from the poison twelve sever all targeted a single wolf. One shot out tentacles as the wolf dodged and dashed away. Only for it to dodge as the next spun disk flew behind it. Just as it dodged the last one a green spike shot up from the ground impaling it.

After the first death the wolves began to slowly retreat. Harry split his concentration in four places now that he knew what it took to kill one. Sever all orbs flashed hitting the wolves with three consecutive attacks. The first three died but the fourth one dodged a third time. Harry noticed this wolf was bigger than the others. It was possible this was the alpha.

Harry let twelve orbs spin around the alpha as he waited. He looked down on the animal daring it to react. Instead of disappointing Harry, it launched itself instead of retreating. It dodged five attacks before Harry managed to hit it. Instead of dying right away it cried on the ground as it bled out.

After climbing off his bicorn, he approached the bleeding corpse of the wolf. Harry placed his hand in the blood filling the body with qi. Harry felt the consciousness move from the body into Harry's qi.

For a moment it fought him before Harry's stronger consciousness power overwhelmed it. This wasn't like the unicorn. It rebelled, and Harry beat against the creature until something broke. Then everything that was the wolf became Harry's.

Five years of wolf memories flew through Harry's mind. The wolf had been special even as a puppy. It had an ability like all its kind possessed but its power was greater. It could read the future better than any other of its kind. It didn't know, it couldn't see, but it had a sense of Déjà vu. Harry heard a hissing sound before the hydra struck.

It was like he'd done this before. Harry dodged a series of bites. He leapt through the attempt to bind him and delivered a powerful blow to the hydra's mid-section. "You stupid mammal, you lied to me."

"Did you really expect to get the dragon out of his cave for free?" The hydra paused her attack.

"Go on, what are you planning?" Harry had no plan and was flying by the seat of his pants. The serpent's rough scales had torn the flesh on Harry's knuckles and blood was seeping down his hand. While the hydra had already regenerated from the blow.

"I'm going to woo Gondor on your behalf and convince him mating with you is a better idea. By the way do you plan to devour him after you mate." All three hydra heads turned to the side at that.

"Of course, if he is a poor mate. Does he have a fetish?" The hydra's six eyes widened as they tasted the air. "You don't know."

"Its complicated, but five wolves would make quite a gift." Harry said.

"Yes," Harry let out a sigh. He needed to find a way to get out of here.

Your mount is unnecessary. Harry's eyes widened as the hydra struck. Massive jaws latched on to his bicorn's throat as the other necks bit into it. Blood and venom fell from the creature as the hydra injected their venom.

Harry quickly put a hand on his bicorn and took its mind into him. It fell into his qi disoriented and scared. The unicorn quickly tried calming it down. Harry felt black destructive power surge through his body from the bicorn. The body went limp immediately after.

"You have a month until my mating season begins. Don't waste it." Harry knew that the best weapon against a hydra is fire. What he didn't know is why Gondor didn't kill the hydra.

Now that he took in the bicorn's consciousness, he had access to destructive magic. Harry held up his hand and moved his qi through the bicorn's power. Small orbs of poison, fire, lightning, ice, and dark appeared in the palm of his hand. In his current state, he didn't have much control. He needed more consciousness power and much tougher skin.

Taking the corpses of the wolves, he made his way up the mountain. He heard the slithering of the naga girl. She quickly took one of the wolves and wrapped it in her coils. Harry heard the bones break as her coils tightened around the wolf corpse. Once she sensed there was no movement, she opened her very human mouth filled with venom drenched fangs. She looked at Harry then turned her back on him. Her mouth stretched over the wolf bones didn't dislocate they stretched. The wolf quickly passed her mouth as her stomach grumbled for it.

She devoured all five wolves. Harry walked over to a corner and sat down. He began to meditate as Gondor snored.

Harry awoke in the coils of the naga girl. For a moment, he feared for his life only to realize she wasn't squeezing him hard. His head rested on her chest as they slept. Harry hadn't noticed himself passing out in mediation.

Author's note:

This won't last more than three or four chapters. Then end of the year begins. Please drop a review and tell me what you think in the shift.


	14. Chapter 14

**Edited 05/03/2020**

Harry faced the cave wall. The bicorn's power bubbled up inside of him as he held his hand parallel to the wall. All five of the creature's elements erupted making it a struggle to single out fire. It took a heavy use of his consciousness power to separate fire from the rest. A small ball of flame appeared inches from his palm. Keeping the ball in his hand had a cost of qi. It burned some of the essence in the air but most of its from came from Harry's qi.

With a bit more qi the ball increased in size from a tiny marble of flame to a soft ball of heat. Through the burning qi Harry could manipulated the ball. He made it spin in place above his hand and revolve around him. He packed the ball down to the size of a marble again and made two more. The three balls of fire rotated around his finger. The small balls of heat glowed brighter when he condensed them further.

Now they were the size of grains of rice. They spun at his fingertip blindingly bright. This was the limit of his control. Every bit of his consciousness power was devoted to condensing the flames.

This was his daily practice. Each day he practiced a different element growing more used to bicorn's power. With his practice finished, he pointed his hand at the cave wall and unleashed a wide cone of flames.

It took some time and a lot of qi, but the stone turned white then cracked and began to melt. Harry let the molten rock fall into a ditch and flowed out of the cave. Orbs of sever all shot forward guiding the molten rock and cutting it cleanly. As the molten slag flowed down the mountain Harry continued to blast the wall.

"Good work Harry, this cave will need to be extended if my mate and her young are to live here." Gondor praised. It had been seven days since he'd started burning his way through the rock of Gondor's cave. Each day he spent hours burning through rock increasing his skill with fire.

"Do you have to die to perpetuate your race? Who decided that you had to die?" Harry asked. He was taking a break from melting rock to talk.

"Harry I'm forty-nine and I've called many times for a mate. One must show, my time approaches. My mate will take care of you both as I would." Gondor said.

"It is often our way. We aren't mammals Harry." Hysisa said. She coiled in a corner far from the molten slag pouring down the mountain. Her scales had begun healing and she looked healthier. Harry could see her bra had filled out since consuming her prey. Her cobra hood held a more vibrant color.

"You have breasts meant to produce milk doesn't that make you a mammal too." Harry argued.

"They are filled with a powerful poison. My kind were designed to feed on humans." Hysisa replied quietly.

"Designed, who was the designer?" Harry asked.

"They are long dead Harry. Their bones were picked clean by my kind thousands of years ago." Gondor said. "That was when dragon kind went to war. There has not been a war since in thousands of years. The great mothers of my kind made sure of it." Gondor said.

"That doesn't tell me who you went to war with or why. Did they enslave her kind after their creation, what happened?" Harry asked.

"Slave Hysisa do you recall who made you. The knowledge of the last enemy is vacant from my mind. I'm lacking the fine details of the past." Gondor said. The dragon looked embarrassed.

"They were the Olympians. Before they became Christian saints and before they were adopted by Rome, they created monsters. That's what gods do they make beings like us in their squabbles and forget about us. My species came from Hera goddess of childbirth and marriage. Zeus set his eyes on Lamia the daughter of Belus the king of Egypt and Libya." Hysisa said.

"It didn't end well did it." Harry said in a grim voice.

"It didn't and we all suffered for it. Zeus impregnated Lamia and Hera took revenge on the victim. She put a curse on Lamia and when the child was born, she consumed it. Zeus disgusted with the woman turned her into a serpent. Because serpents eat their own young. The magic wasn't stable and generations after her adapted until I was born." Hysisa slithered around Harry.

Harry felt his heart race when she coiled around him. Her stomach was soft to the tough smooth like human skin. Her scales rubbed against him cold but not uncomfortable. She placed a hand on her leather bra and pulled it up. Harry saw a white clear substance leak from her breast.

"Drink enough of that and you'll be begging for me to eat you." Harry stared at the dark nipple. It smelled like milk to him and he felt something odd in his stomach. Hysisa quickly put her bra back on.

Harry forced qi through his body and felt his mind clear up. "That was something."

"There is a creature like us out there called a veela. Their allure is magical while ours is chemical in nature." She grabbed her breasts. "The larger a naga's breasts the deadlier."

"What are veela?" Harry asked.

"They are a stable breed between succubus, siren, and human. Before the great separation a Gol wizard turned vampire by the name of Lois D Villa bred them. His goal was the acquire the best tasting prey. He took the hell fire and visual allure from the succubus, the vocal allure and avian appearance of the siren, and the sweet blood and form of humans to craft the veela. Many vampire nobles took up the practice." Gondor said.

"Where did you learn that Sir Gondor?" Harry asked.

"In my younger days, I studied the old histories of the world. I hoped that my mate would keep that part of my spark to pass on to our brood. But as I grew older and met some of the fairer sex of my species, I realized history wasn't their concern. What they valued was gold, a large cave, and food for themselves and their brood." Gondor said.

"What if I could take your mind into myself before you died? I could keep your soul, while your mate took your spark." Harry said.

"Are you perhaps a child of Hades Harry?" Hysisa asked.

"No," Harry said out of hand. He laid against her human half with his head between her dangerous breasts. She coiled around him creating something of a seat.

Days later he opened his eyes from meditation his cultivation base was in the middle of the seventh stage. The fastest way to increase his base was to drain it and then replenish it repeatedly. It wore away at his limits widening his pool each time. In the time he'd been here, he'd increased the Dragon's lair by a factor of three times. With a bit of welding and smithing on Harry's part he piped some water from Cocytus river to the cave. The fresh water cooled down the cave considerable during their renovation session.

Hysisa was laying in the pool cooling down. Harry felt his pants and was absent his wand. The naga girl was waving it in around shooting sparks aimlessly. Harry stepped into the pool and was assaulted by her allure. He gritted his teeth as he approached her. His barrier slowly closed the scent off, but the damage was done.

"Sorry, I thought you'd sleep longer." Hysisa said. Harry took the wand back with a snatch of his hand. His wand vibrated in his hand.

"I wasn't asleep, I was meditating." Harry glared at the snake girl letting his eyes glow green.

"Scary, I'm almost done digesting those wolves." She held up her tail revealing five lumps in her tail they were much smaller than they had been. Harry placed a hand on the lumps. Her scales were smooth to the touch and cold. When he pushed on the lumps they caved in a bit. Hysisa burped quickly and covered her mouth.

"When will you be hungry again?" Harry asked.

"I should eat again in two months after a meal like that. Something light in a month would be ok." Hysisa said.

"Where is Gondor?" Harry asked.

"He's gone to burn down the local goblin tribes and collect their wealth. He's been gone a while but won't be back for another day. It's just the two of us." Hysisa said.

"Something has been bothering me. I was told there were monsters in this land too powerful to survive outside the fairy gate." Harry said.

"There are many monsters that fit that description. The vampire empress Lu Zhi is one beast that can never enter the mortal world again. Many spells were crafted by both British and Chinese wizards to keep her trapped here. They say that crazy bitch has a castle to the east. She's one of the few vampires in the black coven. The foul magics that woman conjures are the darkest." Hysisa said.

"Does she guard one of the keys out of here?" Harry asked.

"No, the vampire who guards their key is empress Chalchiuhnenetzin's consort a vampire by the name of Ren." Harry blinked at the long name then the short name.

"Who are they?" Harry asked.

"Chalchiuhnentzin is an ancient Aztec vampire imprisoned in an old-world temple and unleashed by the Spanish. When the Aztecs stopped offering sacrifice to their sun god the bitch woke up and started killing. The saints were forced to intervene and seal her away here. Time in this land has made her incomparably powerful. She would starve for magic and blood in hours if she left Sanctuary." Hysisa said.

"So, who is Ren?" Harry asked.

"One of the strongest vampires to ever exist. A samurai turned vampire who slew armies for their blood. He has existed since ancient Rome. After tens of thousands of years here he's gained near limitless power." Hysisa said.

"How do you know all of this history?" Harry asked.

"They are the monsters that monsters fear. I've learned everything I could about them." Hysisa said.

…

Days passed and Harry's skill with fire increased dramatically. He could melt molten rock for hours on end without growing tired. His refinery was working harder than ever. His greatest improvement by far was his concentration power. If it was 1 when he entered this place, then it was a 25 now. Compared to the 10 when he entered Hogwarts, he was a 3750, and fifty. It was all thanks to building this lair as large as possible.

The entrance to the lair had become massive. Twenty Gondor's could fit in the mouth of the lair with ease. Harry built himself a room with a vented forge and began working on some armor for himself. He only had enough materials to make pig iron but knew he could fit some purity spiral into it.

According to Hysisa the closest key out of here was the vampire kingdom. The next closest area was the underground. He'd fair no better against the ancient drow matrons than the vampires.

His hands shook, when he slammed the hammer. He was getting hungry. After working for a day he'd managed to forge a breast plate. He needed cordage to wear it and needed to venture out into the forest to get it.

Harry heard a powerful roar and left the forge. There flying towards the mouth of the cave was the largest dragon Harry had ever seen.

Its head was as tall as a triple decker bus, only twice as long, and thrice as wide. A semi could pass down its gullet with little trouble. It landed in the lair ripping away large portions of the entrance. Even with all the additions to the cave it was still a tight fit. Most stunning of all about the creature was its scales. They were cherry blossom pink. In some places they were darker shade while in others they were almost white.

The dragoness turned its massive head to Harry. "Greetings little one is this my intended's lair." It said in an ageless feminine voice. Harry looked over to Hysisa to see she was playing dead in fear. Harry swallowed and faced the dragon.

"Yes, this is Gondor's lair mam. I'm his friend Harry. While he's been away, I've been increasing the size of the lair in preparation for your arrival. A massive paw reached out and a talon dug into the stone. It was right where Harry placed his trench. She sucked in a breath through her nostrils then raised her paw to lick it clean of rock.

"How polite, I've not tasted such dense magic from a wizard. Did one of my kin mates with one of your long dead ancestors?" The dragoness asked. She continued the sniff the air before opening her mouth. When her mouth opened it revealed a barbed tongue made for ripping flesh from bone, teeth big and small that lining her mouth, and the black abyss that was her throat.

She sucked in a breath nearly pulling Harry off his feet. Hysisa coiled into a ball to stay on the ground.

"You smell delightfully of sulfur and molten rock but that's from work. No, you are merely a mammal like the crunchy, pointed eared ones. Your age is eleven and yet your magic is potent." She turned her head to see Hysisa.

"I know what you are little worm. Egg devourer, defects of defects, and mammal descent of all the creature's Gondor could keep, why you?" She sucked in a breath then let out a growl. You smell of lust but towards the boy. Then the dragon chuckled. "You are certainly of a similar make."

"My name is Harry Potter mam what's your name?" Harry asked.

The dragoness swiped at the top of the lair and began to rip away chunks of it. Harry froze as deep chunks of stone were ripped from the ceiling and flung from the cliff. After a moment the dragon relaxed. Her head ceased scraping against the top.

"Dear boy my name is Imo, the rabbit slayer. I hunt the mammoth rabbits of the north. You may also call me Empress Imo of ten thousand summers, she who drinks from the earth's veins, or my favorite devourer of sun gods.

"How long has little Gondor been away? I have many thousands of eggs that need fertilizing." The dragoness said before turning her head and winking with five terrifying eyelids. They fluttered like the shutters of a camera.

"Ms. Imo he's been gone for some time. He said he needed to gather a horde of treasure from the goblin villages." Harry said.

One of her massive eyes turned to him and she froze. Seeing such a massive and extremely dangerous predator still was more frightening than seeing it moving. She sniffed the air and froze again.

"I smell the blood of a fellow dragon." She backed out of the lair and Harry ran forward.

"Let me come with you, I know how to heal." Imo paused just long enough for Harry to reach her and grab hold of a dark pink spike.

She leapt from the cliff latched on to the opposite cliff with her talons before launching herself skyward. Imo picked up speed quickly despite the pull of gravity. Her massive wings spread casting the world in darkness. With a flap she took to the sky traveling at an insane speed.

Harry saw the world below her darken as she flew. The sun in the sky winked out as the dragoness flew. She passed through lands until they came upon a goblin metropolis.

Parts of the city were burnt but it was mostly fine. Gondor was hanging in town pin cushioned with massive ballista. His body barely twitched. The goblins below were filling their goblets with the dragon's blood before drinking it down.

It was too late to sound the alarm when Imo arrived. She opened her mouth and half the city vanished. Harry felt heat before the world exploded. When his eyes adjusted to what happened he saw the metal frames of massive buildings. Only parts of the frames remained most were melted into puddles of slag. One of the goblins acted and climbed up on Gondor's body. A silver knife at the dragon's throat.

Imo sucked in a breath and unleashed a terrifying roar. The goblin's heart must have stopped. Harry felt blood fall from his ears on to his chin. This was far beyond him. Imo landed among the corpses of goblin men, women, and children. A city the size of London with a population of seemingly hundreds of thousands was gone. In the blink of an eye a single dragon had obliterated them.

"Harry, see to Gondor." Imo ordered.

Harry approached his dragon friend of a month. "I'm not much to look at am I Harry?" Gondor asked.

Harry felt tears fall from his eyes. How long had Gondor been here tortured by the goblins? He could tell some of the wounds had healed improperly. There were lashes from whips across the dragon's scales. The smell of shite filled Harry's nostrils and he realized feces was sewed in Gondor's side.

"A delicacy among goblins. The pungent odor taints the blood in a way suitable for goblin pallets." Gondor explained. Harry put his hand on his dragon friend and pushed purity spiral into him.

His eyes widened when he felt his magic split into a thousand different directions. There were too many problems and his magic tried to heal everything. "Harry focus on the worst then move to the least." Imo suggested.

"Yes Ms. Imo." Harry said and went after the blood infection from the dung. He pushed white healing qi into the dragon's heart as he worked his way through the blood stream. The heart carried the qi to the infection. Harry quickly rid Gondor of the infection.

"My friend, you must cut open my wound and remove the filth." Gondor said. Harry focused on sever all. He crafted a blade to cut his friend as painlessly as possible.

Once he sliced through the badly sutured wound, he used sever all to sever the filth from the wound. He crafted an orb of purity spiral and placed it in the wound. By the time he closed the large gaping wound in the dragon's side, he was down half his qi. Harry focused his consciousness power and pulled essence from the ground. With the sudden end of hundreds of thousands of lives essence was thick in the air.

His refinery was quickly increasing in power. More essence poured into him and he refined it into more qi to use. Even so it was a losing battle. Despite the healing Gondor's heart was slowing down.

There was a wound in the Gondor's chest that nicked his heart. Harry continued to pour his healing power into his friend. It was a losing battle.

"Harry did Gondor tell you how dragon's mate? It isn't about the sperm it's about the spark. We dragons can copy and record the sparks of others. It occurs almost exclusively during mating and when dragons die. You've done what you can, he will last long enough to pass on his spark to me." Imo said.

She cut Gondor free and pulled him gently to her chest. With delicate talons she gently pulled out each of the ballista. "Come Harry imbibe of the blood of Gondor as he passes. Let your flesh be blessed by the blood of dragons." A force pulled Harry until he was under Gondor. Blood flowed from his dragon friend and fell upon Harry.

From the blood Harry felt Gondor begin to leave his body. A light shined from Gondor's chest before slowly winking out. Harry felt it when Gondor's consciousness entered his qi. Gondor's immense mind bounded with Harry's qi and Harry felt a fire purify his qi further. From his chest Harry felt a pulse of something not his heart.

Harry's flesh burned from Gondor's blood. "Harry use my blood and grow strong." Gondor didn't pop instead Harry felt him go to sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Edited 05/03/2020**

The essence of tens of thousands poured into him. It was effortless. There was a pulse in his chest. Something was connecting to his mind. Essence continued to pour into him as the connection grew. He felt pieces of Gondor, the unicorn, and bicorn merge with the organ in his chest. Something was happening to him.

He raised his very human hands to his face. Harry sucked in a breath and felt something was missing. His senses felt dulled. The coppery scent of Gondor's blood was all he could smell. Something told him he should be able to smell more. Various shapes came to mind for what his nose should be like. His human nose was the weakest. Even his eyes were weaker than a dragon's. Harry froze in thought. He didn't feel like himself.

"What's going on?" Harry asked. The presence in his chest thrummed as it connected with his mind. A copy of himself was slowly downloading to his spark. Where were these answers coming from?

As if reading his mind Imo answered. "They are from your spark Harry." Her voice reverberated through him. Harry collapsed to his knees. Had he robbed his friend's corpse?

"What have I done?" Harry asked.

"You've done nothing. When a human is bathed in the blood of a dragon, they develop a spark. I'm proud of you Harry. Most go mad from the connection process." Imo said. Her voice shook him.

"I fear for your health Harry. I've forgotten, humans don't fare well near my breath. There is a sickness in the air that spreads from my attacks. For centuries nothing grows, and animals die."

Harry could feel his qi drop as purity spiral worked passively on his body. It had been so subtle Harry hadn't noticed before.

"What is a spark?" Harry asked.

"It is an organ that functions as a second brain, a genetic library, and a fount of knowledge. It first develops as a small crystal the size of a grain of sand. Humans who obtain an incomplete spark by bathing in the blood of a dragon are called dragon slayers." Imo supplied.

"What makes it incomplete?" Harry asked.

"You've only been given half the genetic spark of Gondor. You need another copy to complete your spark. We've ensured that dragon slayers don't know how to complete their spark." Imo said.

"What does that mean?" Harry asked.

"You'll have to discover that yourself. Now I must take you to safety." Harry watched her place the corpse of Gondor in her maw and swallow him down. He watched the lump travel down her throat and vanish in her bulk.

Harry sighed and leapt upon her side and clung to his spike. Her great wings flapped unleashing a terrible gale. The dust below exploded sending the remains of the goblin city to the four winds.

The flight was short. He eased himself into the cave and crawled to the cave pool. He laid within it letting the blood wash off his body.

For the next few days, he expanded the lair. He found it easier than ever to wield fire. On a whim, he tested his control. He conjured ball of flame after ball of flame until fifteen hovered around him. It was easy, the strain wasn't on his human mind but the spark in his chest. He could feel it pulse as he controlled the flames.

The pulsing feelings helped him realize his inner monologue wasn't based in his head anymore. He might survive damage to his brain. His sense of self had shifted. This one was guarded by his rib cage and whatever armor he could craft.

Harry hunted the forest across the canyon killing two elk. He skinned the animals and used a spell from his blacksmith text to dry out and tan the hide. Harry worked to cut it into strips and tie his new chest plate together. True enchantment was beyond him. He needed a greater understanding of runes for that. He did infuse the essence with purity spiral. It had an interesting effect on the chest plate.

Hysisa slapped her tail against the plate to test it denting the pig iron. The armor sucked in essence and bent itself back into place.

"That would be amazing if the plate was useful." Hysisa said. She crossed her arms under her breasts.

"I've seen better steel in my shite." Imo added. The massive dragoness spent most of her time snoozing in the cave. Only speaking up on rare occasions.

Harry let out a sigh and tossed his breast plate back on the forge. He added his own flames to the fire as the plate slowly returned to molten metal. Harry took a shovel he made and added some limestone to the mix. Over the course of a day, he refined the pig iron into steel.

Over the course of a month, he remade the breast plate. He was out in a lake digging limestone and clay up when he heard a hiss.

"Liar," three voices hissed. Harry dodged and threw a fireball. It exploded on the ground with blinding light. Harry used his speed to get behind the hydra. The creature hissed and lashed out. Its heads were even larger than before. It managed to bite down on his chest. The steel plate bent cracking one of Harry's ribs.

Harry forced his feet on the ground before placing his hand on the serpent's neck and unleashing a flamethrower. The sudden extreme heat made the hydra let go before the other heads could latched on. It all happened in an instant. Harry retreated out of range of the hydra.

"What happened to our deal Harry?" She asked him. The wounded head quickly regenerated from the wound. Harry looked at the hydra with desire. Bicorn and unicorn wanted him to add them to their growing herd. Gondor seemed wake a little clearing the desire from Harry's mind.

"Gondor was slain by the goblins. It couldn't be helped. He wanted their treasure for his horde." The hydra hissed in rage and struck at him. Its slithered with incredible speed.

Before Harry could react, she bit into his breast plate with her middle head. Harry raised his hands and blasted the hydra's mouths with fire before they could latch on. The hydra's tail came around just as the middle head let go and smashed Harry across the shore.

Harry fell and skipped across the sand. Small rocks lodged themselves into his arms as he rolled to a stop. A sharp rock gashed his leg cutting deep. Harry saw it and identified it as flint. He slowly made his way to his feet.

"I'm sorry he died to. If you need someone to take your anger out on, I'm here for you." Harry said.

The three heads paused instead of striking him again. "He saved me when the goblins killed my nest mates. I've wanted him as my mate since then. He isn't like other dragons I've met. He still called me a defect. My kind are hated by everyone. We are defects, a mad alchemist attempt to bond many dragons together. Gondor gave me a fair chance at life." She bit his chest plate to gently lift him to his feet.

"I tried to heal him, but his heart was damaged. I didn't see the wound until it was too late." Harry said.

"You owe me, and you smell of dragon's blood. He gave you his blood willingly." She said. Harry nodded. I'm hungry, feed me and I'll spare your life. I want a special treat. I think a dragon slayer will have a better chance to slay her." The hydra said.

"I'll do what I can but what should I call you?" The three heads turned to one another for a moment.

"Nomine is our name. Every dragon slayer has a mount of a sort. You are Gondor's dragon slayer. I'll be your mount, but I need more power. There is another defect that is stronger than me. She is a chimera. Trap her so I may merge with her flesh and I'll be your mount." Namine said.

Harry let out a sigh. This was a fetch quest. He needed some time to let his body settle before he scouted the vampire lands. He nodded his head to hydra.

"Excellent, chimera love hot lands and she has nested to the south near giant territory. I'll wait here and nest at this lake." Nomine said.

Harry nodded and finished loading his cart with limestone before turning back to the lair.

The sun was setting when he finished hammering the plates for his gauntlets together. After some thought, he decided making pockets for steel plates would be easier than full plate mail. With that idea he still needed better leather for his armor. After Namine's love bites the leather straps were falling apart. Acid from her saliva had melted through what leather wasn't severed. As for the plate, it was mostly recovered. Harry wasted no time throwing it back on the forge and adding another quarter inch of steel to the plate. He added an angle to it to turn away fangs.

"Harry if you need more steel, I've taken a shite near the river. I'm sure if you clean the armor in the river, some of it will fit you." Imo said.

"How many armored knights have you eaten?" Harry asked.

"More than existed in Europe when the Mongols invaded Georgia. Far more than when the Mongols left." Harry sighed and found Hysisa.

She was in her room. It was an addition he sculpted for her. In a few days, he melted a small apartment out of the stone.

Harry found her sleeping in a bed sewn together from ram pelts stuffed with wool. Her long black tail extended from her waist nearly fifty feet. Several lumps bulged from her tail after her last feast. He walked to a shelf and pulled a small pale of oil from it.

He poured some on her snake half and began to work it across her body. Hysisa gasped in her sleep as Harry made his way across her body sliding his hands across her scales messaging sore muscles. Blearily she opened her large human eyes. They were crystalline blue larger than human eyes with emotions that Harry could only guess at. Harry lifted a wide section of her tail to rub the oil in between her scales.

"What do you want Harry?" Hysisa asked.

"I wanted to treat my pretty friend to a rub down. Why do I need something?" She closed her eyes and let out a moan.

"Because you haven't left the forge in the last month, except to gather more materials." Hysisa said.

"I was in mourning. Beating steel into shape was how I dealt with it. I'm sorry if you felt neglected." Harry apologized.

"You have no responsibilities to me. I'm not yours Harry." Hysisa said.

"Do you want to be?" Harry asked.

She paused as Harry made his way up her tail to her waist. There he messaged the long slit that stretched from her midriff to the beginning of her tail. Harry felt her squirm as he slowly made his way up her chest. His hands played across her body. With every twitch of the finger, he learned what improved her sensations and what didn't.

Eventually, he made his way to her breasts. Their eyes met when his hands cupped them. His head filled with cotton as he oiled them. They were softer than he expected and packed with muscles on the side. Harry felt entranced. As he stared into her blue eyes and desire to latch on came over him.

When he lowered himself, she caught his mouth with her own. His tongue explored hers finding two very sharp fangs and a wealth of saliva pooled. She tasted spicy on his tongue. Their eyes met and Harry felt himself melt as she gathered him in her arms. Eventually they broke apart leaving Harry gasping for breath.

She lowered her face to his shoulder and opened her mouth. Harry felt her walk needle sharp fangs over his shoulder before she nuzzled his ear. "The only way to have me is to take my bite. I don't think your ready yet Harry. My venom is deadly." Hysisa said.

"I'm going to leave soon." Harry said.

"I know, when will you come back?" She asked.

"It may not be for a few decades your time." Harry said. She smiled gently at him.

"I'm in the service of Imo the rabbit slayer. I'll be here when you return." She said. Harry nodded.

…

Days later, Harry began to stalk a deer with golden antlers. It pranced through the forest. A cougar pounced on it, but claws and fangs found no purchase. The deer simply kicked the cougar snapping its bones killing the creature. The unnatural deer proceed to walk upon the cougar. Harry watched as the deer lowered its head. Its mouth split open revealing a long tentacle sucker. It stabbed into the cougar and began injecting it with powerful acids. Once the cougar's insides were soup it drank.

Two days later Harry saw a troll break its club upon the deer. The deer impaled the troll with golden horns before draining the troll dry. Each time Harry inspected the corpse of the deer's victim. There was only skin left.

After a few days, Harry was sure he knew the deer's territory. He was in the far south and the air was hot. Any further south and he'd run into fire giants. Harry had made a powerful series of spring traps for just this type of prey.

Hidden from the animal, Harry watched it as it drew closer to Harry's trap. It drew closer to the trap along its normal path. Harry waited in anticipation.

The deer drew closer to the trap then sniffed the air. It took a step forward over the trap and kept walking. After a few steps Harry froze.

There was a loud snapping sound as the real trap took hold. The sound of a spinning wheel rang through the forest as the deer was caught. The deer shook as it was hoisted up and quickly changed form. From the golden horned deer, it transformed into a massive spider. It's now slender legs slipped from the trap before transforming into a new form. It became a large red skinned oni with a single great horn. It shot towards Harry at an incredible speed.

Harry had never fought a chimera before and didn't know what to expect from a shapeshifting variant. Twelve disks of sever all shot out cutting the oni into several pieces. The pieces quickly reconnected before it turned into a raging bull. Its horn smashed into Harry's breast plate before its head split open revealing a sucker.

The tentacle sucker shot out aimed for Harry's neck. Harry wrapped his hand around the sucker and unleashed ice. Surprise lit up on the bull's eyes before they glazed over. Harry took a step beck. The fangs of the sucker were dripping with its potent venom. Purity Spiral wouldn't have been able to keep up with it.

…

Days later and multiple freezings Harry returned to the lake with the chimera in hand. The creature sluggishly looked at Nomine in fear. The hydra wasted no time ripping into the chimera and devouring it. A change quickly came over Nomine. Flesh rippled as another head grew. She rippled once again changing into the form of a woman with blood red eyes and skin pale as moon light.

"I said I'd be your mount. As your vehicle, I can do more than merely take you from place to place. I can also grant you access to places forbidden to wizards." Nomine said with a brilliant smile showing off her fangs.


	16. Chapter 16

**Edited 05/04/2020**

All Harry had to do was cross the eastern forest barrier. Then he needed to get on a carriage to the castle of bones. And finally, he had to steal the key from a vampire well over 20,000 years old, easy.

Harry rode upon a stallion with a coat black as coal. As the darkness of the eastern forest swallowed them whole, he was forced to rely upon his sixth sense. Beneath the trees of the east there was no light. Leaves black as coal and bark a pale white covered the forest. These trees choked any other of starlight. Their delicate leaves were designed to absorb the barest amount of light.

The forest was alive with movement. Harry sensed the limbs move but felt nothing moving them. It wasn't the wind or any animal he could detect.

"Don't use any light Harry. If you do, you'll die." His steed Nomine said. She trampled upon saplings of the eastern tree as they rode. "Look up and see the truth."

Harry's eyes glowed a with green qi as he focused his sixth sense. There in the trees wrapped in the leaves and vines from the trees was a unicorn. Long limbs pierced the creature. A green liquid flowed from leaves filling the unicorn's mouth. The unicorn's blood flowed into the tree's limb. Another limb filled the unicorn's anus absorbing the waste while finer roots filled the unicorn's member. They sucked away at its bladder and drank its seed dry. The flesh of the unicorn was sunken down to the bones and its muscles were atrophied. With a glance Harry saw what would become of the creature. There was a husk in the tree nearby. It was bone and dried hide nothing else remained of the once proud creature.

Flames erupted from Harry's hands ready to burn the forest to ash. Tree branches shot down as he flicked his fingers. Green flames tore through the branches leaving ash behind. The forest rumbled just as the flames died out. Harry felt what the unicorn was going through. When his sixth sense touch the creature, they became linked. Pain, confusion, and the terrible knowledge he was going to die whited out his brain. He pulled away before he burned the forest down. Harry bent his head over Nomine's side and vomited.

"It hurts." Harry said. His body shook as his qi tried to sooth his mind. He didn't want to be soothed, he wanted to burn and destroy.

Unicorn within Harry cried out in horror. It wanted Harry to strike at the trees. Bicorn urged him to use fire to cleanse the world of them. Harry qi soothed his anger until he felt nothing, so he refused them both. If he exposed himself here, then they wouldn't get the key. With his qi came cold logic and an control over his actions. Gondor's mind tossed and turned threatening to wake up.

This place was a nightmare. It resembled more a massive spider's nest than a true forest. Only the darkest of creatures could live under the trees.

Harry continued through the forest sensing more creatures in the tree's limbs. Each was in a more horrible state than the last. He could hear them if he sensed too closely. If he touched them with his sixth sense their lights connected, and he felt their pain.

One of their number was silent. He turned to that one and pulled Nomine's reins. "I want a closer look."

Harry leapt from his mount and quickly climbed a nearby tree. In the limbs of a large tree was an old man. Many of the trees had gathered around him sharing in his blood. When Harry approached the old man's, eyes snapped open. Roots had long since poked out one of his eyes and filled his veins. They formed a swirling pattern until they touched his sternum. A small red halo kept the roots at bay for now.

This old man had a spark in his chest. He like Harry was a dragon slayer.

A creature made of leaves and bark slipped out of the tree's trunk. She had a frown on her white bark face. Even with her eyes half covered by her leafy black hair she was beautiful. She spoke but Harry didn't understand her. Harry raised his hand letting darkness expand around his palm.

Harry felt the darkness sweep through him hungrily sucking in qi. It came quicker to his call than any other element. He focused it into a quick blast. But it refused to keep a form. Even as it focused in his palm it changed into hundreds of shapes. It knew endless possibilities and had no desire to keep one for too long. Harry tried to call it back and it sluggishly obeyed. It crept from his qi like a slug while sucking up qi like a leech. The darkness in his hand vanished and he heard a peel of laughter from the tree woman.

Instead of letting it go, he felt goaded into action. He looked at the cruel smirk on the creature's face. He could just leave. This was a waste of time. Why make an enemy of the trees? What if he was in that situation? This old man was a human and a fellow dragon slayer. Making an enemy was worth saving his kin.

Harry focused back on the old man and inspected him with his sixth sense. The concentrated light from the old man's blood was damaging the roots. As the roots absorbed his blood, the man destroyed them. Unfortunately, the old man was running out of consciousness power.

Harry moved quickly and placed a finger on the old man's chest. He infused the old man with qi and sewed karma with him. The old man's good eye widened to life and the halo of blood protecting his sternum turned golden. Slowly, the roots began to retreat. Harry didn't know if the old man would survive this or not but touched his chest again and doubled the qi for good measure. The creature in the tree looked on with hate in her eyes. Branches shot after him.

A smile swept across Harry's face as he dodged the incoming limbs. After five dodges he leapt in the air and the limbs converged on him. The monster shouted in triumph as the limbs wrapped around him.

Twelve balls of sever all appeared around him quickly cutting the branches apart. Harry leapt forward and punched the woman with all his might. Her form exploded. Then he dissipated the balls of sever all. With no light to track the limbs froze. Harry made sure to pay close attention to where the tree woman came from before leaving.

"You might have made an enemy for life." Nomine said. Harry kicked her side and they galloped away. Harry's thoughts were less on the enemy he'd made and more on the halo. It was something he'd study in the future.

As they traveled down the road Harry started to sense dark essence.

Before he'd always detected essence as something of a mix of various elements. Deep in this forest, he sensed the dark in its purer state. From the trees shrouded in darkness, he sensed dense masses of light essence.

As they traveled near the forest's end, he heard the howls of wolves. Harry turned his head to see a massive wolf with snow white fur. Instead of two eyes it had three. It was quickly joined by smaller wolves with black coats and three eyes. Nomine galloped faster as they headed for the nearest town. The wolves were catching up.

Harry stood up on Nomine's back. He bent his knees to keep balance and gathered fire to his hand. Holding his breath, he pushed a fireball forward. The ball quickly expanded sucking in oxygen before exploding. The white wolf leapt through the explosion showing no signs of damage. Frost fell covered the ground where she stepped. Her artic blue eyes were set on him. As they made a turn a wolf leapt from a hill, Harry twisted leaving Nomine's back and struck the wolf in the neck. Harry heard the wolf's bone break as he tried to right himself. It felt good to have something to fight.

The second his feet touched the ground the two black wolves dog piled on him. He moved just enough to avoid their teeth. Harry called for lightning with all his might. It shot to him as he touched the wolves then vanished just as quickly. The wolves shook in the air before collapsing on the ground. Fire came to his call like an old reliable friend.

He raised his hand and unleashed a cone of flame. The white wolf dodged to the side. As her hair stood up her third eye flashed. Harry threw himself to the side as razor sharp blades of ice shot up from the ground. The wolf leapt at him after his dodge its mouth agape ready to bite him through the neck. In her eyes wasn't hunger anymore, Harry could see revenge.

Righteous fury swept through him as he rose. She started it and he'd finish it. His eyes glowed green as he used his full cultivation base. Power exploded through his body as bones popped and healed back stronger. Harry felt himself rise to the ninth stage just as he drove a flame covered fist against the she wolf's jaw. Just as the force transferred Harry reacted with another blow. His every step drove him faster as he punished the wolf. Bones broke and crumbled ice covered her fur like armor only to shatter. Steam rose from her body as he tore her apart with strength and flame.

She was bloody broken and covered in burns. He placed a hand on her body and drew her consciousness out. It charged for his own mind ripping and tearing. Harry roared as his cultivation base struck her. Her mind was wild and even brave, but it was nothing compared to a churning ocean. Waves of qi smashed into her wearing away at her very soul. Then Harry struck. He gripped her with his mind and squeezed until she popped.

Her six years of life swept through his mind. She was the daughter of an ancient beast of the far north. She was chased from the lands and founded in the east. For the past year she'd hunted these lands. Most of her life here was spent attacking lone travelers and leading them into an ambush. She came with a few abilities.

His knowledge of the dao of ice had increased. If he wanted to improve it anymore, he'd need to go north. He picked himself up from the ground and made his way towards the village. Pieces of wolves were scattered along his trail until he found her waiting for him.

Nomine in her red eyed vampire form smiled at him like Cheshire cat. At the ninth level of refinery his body naturally absorbed essence at an insane rate. Just one more stage and he'd be ready to attempt foundry. That was something he'd need time and preparation to complete.

Out of the forest, they made their way down a lonely road. Even out of the forest the large white trees covered the earth though spread out. Lightly glowing grass covered the ground out of reach from the tree limbs. This grass covered the vast plains outside the forest eaten by various beasts of burden. On the road travelers with wagons full of children traveled down the road. One of the vampires driving the wagons waved to Nomine.

Gondor's information contained the common tongue of the eastern lands. Even so Harry had never used it and wasn't confident in it.

"Cairn is my name. The hundred-year war festival is coming quickly you might need more sacrifices than that one. Did you hear who they captured to play Joan of Arc?" Cairn asked. Harry sent his sixth sense to inspect the wagon.

He felt a weight on his heart. They were all children his age, younger, and older. None were over the age of fifteen and the youngest was eight. If he spoke up or killed Cairn, they wouldn't make it out. What could he do? Harry felt worthless like a hammer trying to pour concrete.

"This one is mine; I'm waiting until he's a bit older to turn him. He's a descendent of my mortal family." Nomine said.

"My apologizes miss. I had no idea he was such a valuable mortal. Most don't follow such traditions any longer. I see no bite marks on his neck. Are you keeping him pure for your sire?" Cairn asked.

"No and that's enough discussing such private matters. Will I be barred from entry without an offering?" Nomine said.

"Of course not, only procurers must bring offerings. Tourists may participate, though feed conservatively. The guards shall give you all the rules upon arrival. Do you wish to ride m'lady your blood bound may join my offerings?" Cairn turned to Harry. His silver hair bounced upon his shoulders. The man dyed his hair and dressed like a resonance man. Harry was certain the vampire wasn't so old. Cairn didn't feel particularly powerful.

"May I have your name blood bound?" Cairn asked.

"Harry Potter Sir," Harry said with a bow. He kept his body language tight. Even the sir was cut shorter than it should have been. The vampire clucked his tongue but made no comment. The horses stopped and Harry climbed into the wagon.

He found an empty place next to two girls. One was a white haired drow who couldn't be older than eight and a dwarf rocking herself slowly. Harry sat between them. The dwarf felt him bump her shoulder and shied away.

The elf saw him and turned her head. "I'm sorry, I can't save you." Harry said.

"Don't worry Harry some will live beyond the festival. The others will die with pleasure that only vampire venom can provide. You'll be one of us soon enough. But feel free to become acquainted with them. Harry focused on the sound waves with his sixth sense.

He tried to make a blade out of qi to cut them, but they were impossible to affect with his current skill. One of the boys in front of him shook upon hearing the words.

"It's not like it matters. My father will have already called his levies. Soon we will be saved." An older boy said. In his hand was a twig knight. He was twelve by Harry's estimation.

"No knight of the saints can pass the forest with their holy relics. After the last of the procurers reach the village the dementors will be sent back into the woods. They will keep any heroes from passing through the forest." Cairn said casually. Harry looked around and saw that no one was around.

He stood up and circled around sensing nothing. His sixth sense expanded passing beyond fifty meters in range. Nomine turned around and shook her head. As if knowing what he planned she warned him away. Harry sighed and retook his seat.

After an hour of riding the village came into view. Massive walls encircled the village while wagons full of children lined up at the gate. The wagon stopped and from the horse Harry watched a vampire crawl out of the beast's flesh. The horse fell and died immediately, and Harry felt a difference between the vampire and the horse. Dark essence flowed through her veins with incredible purity. Harry sensed a concentrated solid mass of it in her body. It was present in Cairn and Nomine but in her it was overbearing and dense. Harry sensed a presence radiating from her.

They unhitched the now dead steed and she leapt into the wagon. She swept the boy who had spoken up before up. With ease she turned his head and opened her mouth. Harry sensed the hungry gluttonous dark even in her saliva. She bit down on the boy's wrist draining him slowly. Harry could feel the boy's heart race as the vampire's venom numbed his body.

"There are no more hidden vampires and the others are too far away to sense us." Nomine said. Cairn and the new vampire froze. Harry rose to his feet and felt a grin of satisfaction spread across his face.

His hand struck out with no restraint. The woman pushed the boy in the way and Harry twisted changing the course of his momentum. In that split second, he ripped through Cairn's back, tore his heart apart, and scooped the small speck of condensed dark essence. Harry ripped it out.

The dark essence glowed to his sixth sense. Harry quickly absorbed it feeling the dark within him grow in awareness. The vampire leapt to the side of the carriage when Harry snatched her ankle out of the air. Nomine moved grabbing the woman's shoulders.

"Cairn's blood will be noticed you won't be able to hide his death or mine. If you spare me, I'll tell the guards that Cairn attacked you." Harry looked at the carriage full of children and spread his sixth sense out to the other carriages full of children.

He stepped over to the vampire and placed a hand on her cheek. The dark was screaming to devour her dark essence. She was much stronger than Cairn. When Harry met her red eyes, he saw terror. Harry wiped the blood from her lips then tapped her chest just above the dark essence core.

"Is this a vampire's core or heart? I can feel it calling to me." Harry pulled a little on it and her heartbeat stalled. She coughed up a mouthful of blood. Harry's eyes glowed green and he didn't know what to do. He looked at her and didn't know.

"I'm ultimately just a vehicle. It's up to you to choose. Take a chance or play it safe." Tears of blood fell from the vampire woman's face.

"Please, I'm just an undercover guard. It's what I must do to survive in this world." She said. Harry narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what to do. If he was like her would he do the same? Did she have a choice? He didn't have the experience to make the decision. He could only look to what others would do. She hadn't betrayed him, and she wasn't the one procuring children.

"Was she the one who took you from your homes?" Harry asked. His voice was a whisper, but everyone heard it. Her heart began to calm a little.

"No, it was Cairn who took us. She only joined after we reached the forest. It was her job to make sure other vampires didn't drain us on the road." The son of a lord said. "She told me to be brave." He said.

Harry dropped his grip from her dark essence. He raised his hand and offered it to her. "This is your only chance. If you betray me, you won't get another." Harry said.

They approached the gate and Harry waited for betrayal. Nomine took on Cairn's form as they passed through the gate.

"Hey Carmen, what wrong did something happen beyond the forest. Did you meet another young man you want to turn?" A guardsman said.

"Do you smell that Cairn is one of our guests a fighter. Or were you playing with your food again. I'm guessing by the smell it wasn't a powder musket this time." The other guard said.

"You know my proclivities. Perhaps giving the girl a silver knife was too much." The guards chuckled. Harry waited for one of the guards to sound an alarm. There was no way it was this easy.

"You're going to get yourself killed one day you psychopath." One of the guards said. "Well everything checks out, go on through." He stared at Carmen waiting for her to do anything. A hand sign or any warning from her and he'd kill her where she stood.

They passed the gates and the doors closed behind them. He waited under the gazes of thousands of vampires and their victims. Some felt many times stronger than Carmen while others were as weak as Cairn.

Once they reached the inn Carmen purchased their room. They closed the heavy soundproof door before she spoke.

"You can't be human. No human is that fast or precise. You didn't put your hand on my heart, you put it on my core." Before Harry could respond he turned his head as the largest mass of darkness he'd ever felt brushed against his sixth sense.

He rushed to the window and focused on the presence. After scanning over it he sensed something that felt like the fairy gate. It was here the key out of this place was in this village.

Author's note: Sorry this is taking so long just a few more chapters and we'll return to the main plot. Tell me if you're enjoying the plot so far. It's about wrapped up now.


	17. Chapter 17

**Edited 05/04/2020**

It was dark in his room. Even with candles lit the light wasn't enough to read a book or see himself in a mirror. He couldn't imagine how scary this would be to a normal human.

The vast trees sucked in what little light the sun could provide through the dense fog above. This was a state built for vampires. Within the trees' branches Harry sensed cloaked figures made of darkness. When they passed by him, he saw Gondor die, he felt the impossible struggle against the star spawn, and he saw a green-eyed woman scream, 'not Harry.'

His hand shook as his qi raged within him. When his eyes opened, they flashed a dark green. Harry prepared to use everything he had.

He checked his armor making sure each plate was in place. His heart began steady beat like a war drum. A key was near and so was an impossible struggle. He wanted to get the children out of here.

Hundreds of children were ushered towards the town center. Their despair was increased by the cloaked demons. Collared and led around with leather ropes they were taken.

Groups of vampires left the inn dressed in their finest. Each wore classical clothing of both British and French descent. Harry covered his eyes and stomped his feet. He tore through the floorboards and groaned.

"Have you forgotten that I'm your vehicle? I'll lead you wherever you need to go." Nomine said. Harry continued to struggle for a moment. His wrath was rising and it felt like he was burning. He turned to Carmen.

"Are you also with me?" The vampire didn't look away. She met his gaze with her own red pupils.

"You held my life in your hands then gave it back to me. I'm with you." Carmen said. Harry hummed at that then turned back to the scene.

"What this festival all about? What's the point of it all?" Harry asked.

"This is a celebration of holy communion. All who partake will make an advancement in dark power. Even you will find your dark strength increased. You did deliver a wagon full of sacrifices." Carmen said.

"The dark isn't loyal why should I feed it?" Harry said.

Nomine spoke up. "The dark is scatter brained at times. It needs more than magic to remain stable it needs emotion and a physical medium."

"It doesn't matter I've decided to save them if I can." Harry declared.

"You don't know them and not all are human. Getting the key will be enough trouble." Nomine said. Carmen froze in shock. She seemed dead on her feet for a moment before she straightened.

"If you after the key then you should give up. It is currently in the possession of Alucard." Carmen said.

"Who's Alucard?" Harry asked.

"He's something that shouldn't exist. Of our kind he's too young to be considered an ancient but he has the status of one. His father was the crimson wing. You would know him as Dracula. Not only was he a dragon slayer but he managed to become both a vampire and a dragon lord." Carmen said.

"What about Ren? I heard he was responsible for the key." Harry said.

"That fossil buried himself in the earth and hasn't risen for a millennium." Carmen said.

"Harry vampires use their bodies as their physical medium. They grow stronger with more magic. A dragon slayer is ten times stronger than a fully trained wizard magically. A dragon lord is ten times stronger than that." Nomine said.

"It's worse than that. He was turned into a vampire by the original source. The organization of Lucifer. Their alchemists transformed him using their refined methods after thousands of years of research. Don't fight this man Harry." Carmen said.

"But I want to fight him." Harry said. The darkness he felt was powerful beyond his understanding. It was greater than anything Harry had encountered before. But Harry was a mere rank nine refinery. His dragon slayer status didn't transfer to physical strength. Light was another weapon he couldn't use because of the trees. Harry needed to deal with them first.

"If you don't want to die then I don't recommend it. Alucard has had thousands of years of experience. This isn't the first time he's experienced this ritual." Carmen said.

Harry sighed and wondered if he'd be able to get the key at all. Stealth was tossed away out of hand. Harry didn't know if he'd ever be able to leave Sanctuary. Was there even a way to move forward?

Something caught his eye. A golden light appeared high in one of the trees. Harry sensed a truly vast amount of light essence radiating from the tree.

"It seems the Light's Bane has borne fruit." Carmen said.

"Once the ritual is complete the light will give way to dark and Alucard will be offered the fruit." Unless, Harry ate it first.

"We're going after it." Harry said.

"Many blood bound will be sent after it one more won't be overlooked. If we hurry, you'll get to join the competition." Carmen said.

Harry wore nothing as he approached the tree. It was to prevent him from hiding the fruit and trying to abscond with it. The tree itself was a massive thing. Its trunk had a radius of three buses lined up. It was the largest tree in the east. It was given the name light's bane for its size.

"Within the tree there are many dangerous beasts. If you wish to drop out there is no shame in doing so now." The governor said as he looked at Harry. The Governor was a rotund vampire with a monocle and top hat. He held a dickens book in his hand.

Harry waited for the whistle to blow and the race to begin. Once he ate the fruit, he'd reach the tenth stage immediately and his refinery would be complete. His mechanism for refining qi would become stable. From there foundry could be considered.

Harry looked to see a man with an assault rifle slung across his back. Some had swords, axes, pistols, and one even had a belt of grenades. They were armed to the teeth while Harry had his wand tucked behind his ear.

Instead of a whistle a gun sounded the start. Harry rushed forward only to be blitzed by another boy near his age. The boy's body was full of dark essence.

As he watched the boy take the lead Harry ducked a bullet aimed at his temple. He quickly made it to one of the roots just as the boy attacked. Harry felt a powerful blow hit his barrier and returned with one of his own. The boy looked stunned as he fell back a step. Harry let the boy's return kick send him flying to another branch.

He sent a disk sever all out and cut the branch the boy stood on. The boy leapt to another branch then shot himself up by rebounding off a branch. Harry put his palms together pointing at the boy. Just as he saw the white of his foe's eyes in the green light of sever all, he fired. Like a dragon's mouth, he spewed flames from his cupped hands. Both of his hands were pointed ahead as he used his consciousness power to keep the attack focused.

The fire burst forth as more a beam then chaotic flame. Just before his flames would have turned the boy to charcoal there was a pop. Harry moved with all his might but was too late. A powerful blow rocked his face sending him flying into the tree truck. Sever all burst forward in a web of green tentacle death.

Harry saw the boy focus his dark nature and popped again. He was higher in the tree. Two bullets flattened against Harry's barrier as he refocused and climbed chasing the boy. With a flick of his finger he severed the branches below letting them fall on his competition.

Running towards the tree, he used his cultivation base to offset gravity and began running up the tree. The boy wasn't as strong as Harry, but he was good at what he did. Harry heard more pops as he raced towards the top just behind his rival.

Just as his opponent popped into view, he threw an ice sickle scoring a hit on the boy's arm. The older teen quickly ripped the sickle out and popped higher before throwing it down at Harry.

Harry used his wand and levitated the sickle away before targeting the boy. A battle of wills commenced. They glared at one another the boy using his dark essence and consciousness power to battle Harry. The boy was older, more experienced, and physically like a vampire. The boy's magic fueled his body like a vampire and continuously restored itself with local dark essence. It wasn't enough Harry's will magic was stronger, he levitated the boy and threw him down the tree. Just as he climbed another level, he heard a pop. The boy was hanging on to one of the branches.

A sever all cut the branch down as Harry climbed higher. He felt another pop but this one was far away. This was his chance. Harry raced towards the top as he felt the pops continued to grow closer.

Harry arrived at a circular platform at the tree's top. A single branch grew from the center of the platform where the fruit waited.

"You're not getting the fruit. It's mine." The boy said. Harry turned to see twin desert eagles in the boy's hand. Harry put a disk of sever all in front of him just as the guns fired.

"What's your name?" Harry asked. Instead of popping the boy straightened up. A prideful smirk appeared on his face.

"I'm Travis Dust blood bound to empress Lu Zhi after I eat the fruit, she'll turn me." Harry had no idea why Travis just told him that. Harry sent a disk of sever all at Travis only for the boy to pop. Harry guessed where the boy would appear and leapt to the side to dodge a bullet.

He pulled his wand out and held his breath. Harry began using the carbon summoning spell. It didn't take long for Travis to start stumbling.

"Why am I slowing down?" Travis asked. Harry could sustain himself with qi as he sent ice sickles at Travis.

The boy dodged as sweat beaded down his face. He tried sucking in a breath only to choke. Harry dashed forward delivering a powerful blow. It was like punching a brick wall. Harry felt the bones in his hand snap as Travis' lungs seized up. The boy choked but couldn't get a breath. He began to crawl towards the glowing fruit.

Harry placed his foot against Travis' ribs. Like tossing a cat out of the way Harry sent Travis over the edge.

With victory in sight, he approached the fruit. Bang! Harry wrapped his hand around the fruit just as a bullet pierced his barrier and ripped through his chest. His lung was torn apart and his qi was in turmoil. Blood poured from the wound. Bang!

Harry felt another bullet smash into his shoulder and his sever all orbs winked out. He quickly brought the fruit to his mouth and took a bite. Several bangs rang out ripping through his body as he swallowed the bite. The fruit in his hand was taken before Harry could consume the rest of it.

A stream of molten gold fell upon his refinery easily turning into refined qi. His qi went from a roiling sea to a calm ocean. There was no longer any need to consciously refine qi. He opened his eyes as purity spiral finished healing him.

He saw the face of his attacker. A man with a long-scoped rifle in his hand. He had the fruit in his hand as he made his way down. Harry sped forward feeling stronger than ever. With a step over the edge he realized gravity was more subjective than ever. He dodged to the side as the man leapt from the tree to one of the lower branches. Harry realized he had to get the fruit before the man reached the ground. The vampires might already know of Harry's treachery.

Harry approached the man reaching out only for a bola to catch his legs. Another had attacked him before he caught the man. Harry fell a hundred feet before he severed the bola and made chase. From cover others shot at him. A dart pierced him, and he felt dizzy.

Purity spiral robbed him of his qi control as it healed him. He began to slip and fall down the tree. Harry struck out stabbing his hand into the tree's bark. When he struck, he felt the heart wood of the tree. It was purer than even the fruit. Unlike the fruit the heart wood wasn't compatible. It was as likely to burn him out as help him. He pulled the dart out and flung it at the sniper just as purity spiral finished healing him. Then he kicked off the tree towards the man firing the darts. He punched with all his might shattering the man's skull into pulp. He took the dart rifle and aimed at another of the blood bound. He fired until it emptied dropping them on his way to the fruit.

A gun shot rang out just as the fruit came into view. This time it flattened on his barrier. The man leapt back to another branch as Harry tossed an ice sickle. It stabbed into the man's shoulder making him drop his gun. A sever all disk flashed.

The man's head fell away. Harry snatched the fruit up and took another bite. His cultivation base went from low stage ten, to the great circle of stage ten. Harry continued to feed upon the fruit until power coursed through him. Harry could feel his skin peeling away as the light of a star coursed through his cultivation base.

He raised his head to the sky and roared as he began to rapidly and irrevocably enter the foundry level. Qi ripped through his body as Harry struggled to focus it. Dark essence was sucked away from the world around him and refined at an accelerated rate. A tornado of qi gathered around him as limbs were ripped from the tree.

The pain was blinding, the pressure crushing, and his task insurmountable. Around his refinery, he began to build his foundry. Qi rushed tearing apart his progress as he raced against the clock.

He could feel the candle wick that was his longevity wear away as the qi spun around him chaotically. Harry crafted the image of a factory. An industry designed to turn his qi into aura. He focused on steel compressing his qi into a tool. He focused on a single mechanism a tool to compress and store qi.

Harry didn't know how much time passed. It could have been a few seconds or days. Eventually, the qi began to shrink as it was taken and compressed into blocks. With each block stored Harry felt the igniting of his aura.

A green field appeared around him. His personal barrier was stronger than ever. Aura from his condensed qi flowed from his body more malleable than clay and stronger than steel. It poured from him constantly as more blocks of qi were made. He opened his eyes to see he was covered in blood.

Harry floated down from the tree to see the one with the key. Alucard wasn't what he expected.

Alucard had the appearance of a bronze skinned dark haired man in his early twenties. He was a shocking six feet six inches tall and rippling with muscle. His wide frame made him look like an indestructible warrior of legend. Alucard was the picture of the dark hero. His eyes were a soft brown unlike the other vampires. Harry could feel the endless darkness that was this man.

"I guess I was noticed." Harry said. Alucard lifted an eyebrow and chuckled.

"They started freaking out and calling for your head when the Travis fell. He'll live thank Atom, I'd hate to have Lu Zhi breathing down my neck." Harry didn't blink, he couldn't have. Alucard was there one moment and gone the next. Harry turned his head to see the man frowning. Harry felt his heart freeze in his chest as the man lowered himself.

Nomine put a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok Harry, we'll be beyond the gate soon." Nomine said.

"Why," Harry asked the man. He only recieved gave a knowing smile. One that spoke of a familiarity with Harry he didn't recognize.

"You're a student of Hogwarts lost in Sanctuary. The pact demands we send you back." Alucard said.

"You don't seem angry at me for eating the fruit." Harry stated.

"You needed it more than me. It helps that it didn't go to Lu Zhi." Alucard said.

Harry frowned as Alucard put a hand on him while holding the key. Harry felt the sensation of being squeezed through a small tube.

He appeared outside of the river. His tracks were blurred only nine days old. He knocked on the door to the great hall. Professor McGonagall answered instead of Filtch.

"Mr. Potter you've had us worried. Hagrid has searched the forest twice for you." She said.

"Sorry professor would you believe I was attacked and fell in the river Cocytus?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure, well you seem to be safe now. Come in and go to bed we'll have you looked over in the morning. I'll inform the headmaster you're safe." McGonagall said.

He'd failed to save anyone. Harry was stronger than ever but couldn't do anything about injustice. He decided not to return to Sanctuary until he was strong enough to battle the monsters of that world. There was a monster close to hand that needed to die. A black snake slithered from his shirt and transformed into Nomine's vampire form.

"Do you need a ride Harry?"

Author's note: Ok refinery converted essence into qi and foundry stores qi more effeciently and creates aura. Basically, Aura allows Harry to use techniques without using up his qi. This means he won't lose his ability to use sever all when he's wounded.


	18. Chapter 18

**Edited 05/04/2020**

Harry's eyes snapped open; a thick mist fell upon Hogwarts grounds obscuring his view. Peels of thunder rang out shaking the sleepy castle. Every boom denied his dominion and every rattling shake scattered his sixth sense. A living feeling of cold crawled over his senses taunting him. The world screamed as lightning flashed blinding and obscuring a presence. Before it vanished without a trace Harry sensed it in full. The cold alien will of the creature left him reeling in shock. It was powerful as anything Harry had ever sensed, he dared not leave the castle.

What this creature wanted was to punish and damn. It hungered and received joy unending from the feeling. Just touching its mind left Harry reeling for warmth.

Hours later, he still waited for the storm to pass him over. As the last of night fled before the dawn broke, Harry began to regain himself. Something happened beyond his senses some dark deal had been struck.

Harry sought the comfort of meditation in the Gryffindor common room before his meeting with Dumbledore. He shivered as thoughts of the presence melted from his mind. What dark deeds enacted would be revealed soon enough. He was in no hurry to overturn a viper while he had problems with a fly.

"Someone has traded their soul for power this night." Nomine said.

"To whom did they trade their soul to and what did they get in return?" Harry demanded.

"See the signs and check the board there are bound to be pieces here. We are on the boarders of a fairy gate." Nomine said

"It was cold, and dark does that remind you of someone?" Harry muttered but Nomine only hissed at him mockingly.

Harry had made his way to the library on instinct. The paintings turned their heads when they saw him, and Mrs. Norris fled at his approach. None dared to stop him as he threw himself into the history section. Quietly, he pulled book after book scanning through them. Soon he had a stack of the books he needed.

Nomine took a seat in vampire form. "What does it matter? Could they match you?" She teased. A challenging smile flashed across her face.

He flipped through pages of ancient tomes and set upon finding reason in the event's mere hours before. The students had remained asleep even as the castle rattled and shook. Darkness and cold had teased his senses with a power unending. Even with his new strength, Harry knew he wasn't the strongest. That was clear by the way his hands shook when he held a book.

Beings of cold dread fit many images of devils, fairys, and even some gods. As fantastical as those beings were, they hadn't acted in this world for hundreds of years. Since the age of reason, they hadn't dared to interfere directly. They quietly took the form of saints and fell into the background. Only the monsters from their pantheons remained active.

Harry turned a page and found something interesting. There was a hag by the name of Cold Nan, halfway down the page he learned she was sealed and dropped in the sea. After he cleared the books on hags, he picked up the single book on demons.

From what he read, blood was always required to summon them. The purer the blood the better. They always demanded souls for their bargains. The soul didn't need to be the users. Any soul would do. The demons of cold and darkness were the punishers of traitors. They are summoned exclusively by traitors. They especially love leaders who betray their followers.

"Harry," he turned to see Hermione. She reached out and grabbed his robe. "I need to warn you about professor Quirrell."

Her grip was stronger than it had been before. She was at the first stage of refinery now.

"Tell me everything." Harry said.

"I believe he's after the philosopher stone. It's in the castle behind the door in the third-floor corridor. It was made by Nicolas Flamel to create gold and life." Her eyes were frantic as only one in the first stage could exhibit.

"I doubt eternal youth will help with his stuttering." Harry said.

"Enough gold could make me forget about his stuttering." Hermione quipped. Her eyes were beyond blood shot and blood began leaking from her nose.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

For a moment her mouth moved but no words came out. Then she took a breath. "Bloody no I'm not alright Harry. This is serious."

"So, you're saying Quirrell is some sort of mastermind. He faked his stuttering, released the trolls on purpose, and misdirected the teachers during the attack. Quirrell did it all, so he can case the third corridor learn the weaknesses of the security." He had to say it out loud before he believed it. "Do you take notes with the syllables his stutters included?"

She took her backpack out and showed him several sets of notes. "You're amazing, it's a shame they're worthless as evidence."

"Why are my notes not good enough Harry?" Hermione challenged.

"We need a large sample size with common variables to prove the lack of general pattern." Harry said absently. Technically, that was elvish evidence law stored in his spark. It was still relevant possibly. He wasn't learned at all in wizarding law.

"Fine, I'll talk to the older years. I'll get their notes then we'll turn over the evidence." Hermione said.

"Relax Hermione, your evidence is more than enough for me." Harry said. He watched a smile light up her face.

"I'm going to speak to Dumbledore this morning. Relax, I'll tell him everything." While the fly buzzed about there was no time to deal with a viper. He'd confront the professor after his meeting with Dumbledore.

Harry didn't know when he was supposed to meet the headmaster. He approached the gargoyles and read aloud the password McGonagall had supplied him. A stone statue leapt out of the way and Harry went inside. He moved slowly warry of a trap. Something was going on and he didn't know if the Headmaster was privy to everything.

He entered a room full of spinning, twirling, and noise making silver instruments. Calling them controlled chaos was generous. They were uncomfortable to his sixth sense. Each instrument rubbed him the wrong way and the noises they made sounded like hell's bells ringing in his ears. Each gave off type of light essence different than the other. They drew at his sixth sense tearing at his mind in many directions.

His muscles spasmed from restraint. No excuse seemed too petty to turn his wrath upon the instruments. Then he heard a soft song of battle and promised victory. It swept through his body easing the stress of the instruments.

Harry listened intently and took a seat. His aura while tightly leashed spun with the music. The seemingly infinite patterns of light and fire essence within the music swept him gently away. He let himself rest for the first time in ages and felt himself dream a bright dream. It was filled with endless fire and ash.

"Are you enjoying Fawkes' singing? It's good to see you haven't abandoned the light to survive the dark." Dumbledore said. Harry blinked awake slowly feeling refreshed.

"Is light good professor and what qualifies as good to you?" Harry asked.

"A very personal question Harry. Have you made up your mind yourself? I found myself changing often in my youth. Would you like a lemon drop, they are my favorite?" Dumbledore asked.

"I don't believe in good or evil. The dark is too lazy to be as helpful as the light." Harry said.

"I must disagree. There are monsters in this world designed to actively harm. Some spells can do only harm and we have labeled them dark because of it. That as it turns out does not put it in the elemental category of dark." Dumbledore said.

"Designed, so there is a greater mind behind the monsters and spells. I've learned shocking secrets about our world and the history of monsters. Are they dark or designed by someone who wanted to do the most harm?" Harry asked.

"Doing harm to others can also harm yourself. If you've come out of your ordeal only questioning the world then you're no worse for wear. Poppy has already sent a copy of your physical to the ministry." The headmaster said.

"Sir, I never had a physical. I haven't had one since I arrived." Harry said.

"That is by design. The less the ministry knows the better. Do you want Poppy to give you a physical and report her findings to the ministry?" Harry shook his head.

"Then, I'd suggest you find a private physician under binding contract for all your medical needs." Harry felt like he was on his back foot. He'd felt like that since the conversation began.

"What's behind the door in the third-floor corridor?" Harry asked.

"A painful death to any student brave enough to investigate it." Dumbledore replied. "I thought I said as much on your first day. I'm sure Ms. Granger took notes." Dumbledore said. The old man smiled at Harry and popped a lemon drop in his mouth.

"Have there been any more star spawn attacks?" Harry asked. The old man's eyes darkened at that.

"That is no longer your concern Harry. You aren't ready to face the world's dangers let alone dangers beyond the world. Do you have any plans for the summer?" The headmaster asked.

"Yes," Harry said.

"Elaborate dear boy, tell me of the adventures you have planned." Dumbledore ordered jovially.

The headmaster made him feel small and weak like a child. This man wanted to take all the responsibilities from Harry's hands. It was as irritating as it was endearing. If Harry was anyone else, he'd let the old man take over.

"I'm going after the star spawn." Harry stood up from his chair.

"I haven't dismissed you Harry. Why can't you leave this war to your elders?" Dumbledore asked.

"It's my responsibility. Letting you take it off my hands won't help. It must be me." Harry said. He felt it in his bones. Only an immortal could challenge the gods. Any mortal who tried to fight would eventually fall and become like the gods.

"Hermione believes that Quirrell is a dark wizard disguised as a stuttering buffoon. He's after the certain death behind the door on the third-floor corridor." Dumbledore only gave away a twinkle in his eyes.

"Go and take the week off Harry. Walk around the castle an enjoy yourself. I'll inform you of any star spawn news when I receive it." The headmaster said. Harry raised an eyebrow curious if he'd won anything.

He made his way to the old black smith yard and fired the forge. When the fire came to life, he worked the bellows stoking the flame. He used the levitation charm to add coal to the furnace. His aura slowly mixed in with his work as Harry unshackled it. Green light surrounded his body. It acted to his command building as he pulled a slab of soft steel from the forge. It was his aura that shaped the steel even as Harry pounded it into a new form. Harry could see the form it would take. It was there in his mind all Harry needed to do was bring it to life.

The star spawn ceased to matter, neither did the two headed monster, or Quirrell. He beat out a sword bathed in aura. It was to become simple single edged blade two feet long. His hammer sang as the steel rang.

Soon the sun was high in the sky and Hermione came to visit him. The forge was still bathed in his aura. Harry continued to move as if he hadn't noticed her.

"You must do something Harry." The sword shattered against one of his swings. Pieces exploded out littering the ground like silver stars. Harry tossed the remains of the blade in the forge and collected the fragments.

"What must I do Hermione." Harry turned his eyes to her, and she stepped back in fear. His aura poured out as he struggled to control it. Before he'd kept it fully suppressed but now it was out in full.

She shivered in place before regaining her nerve. "Dumbledore is leaving for a wizingnaut meeting. The stone will be defenseless. He's leaving by the end of the week. You must act you're the only one who believes me." Hermione said.

"Let him take the stone what does it matter to us." Harry asked.

She left him at some point as the sun sunk and Harry continued to forge. "What does it matter to us?" Harry said to himself. He struck the steel blade of his first sword. It didn't break. Harry pulled the blade with no handle free of the anvil.

It rang in the air hovering in place. Harry put it in some clamps and hammered the handle into it. With deft hands, he swung the blade marveling at how light it felt in his hand. From the blade Harry felt his aura and essence of sword permeate the air. It was a feather in his cap.

He returned to his hammering and quenched a spear tip when Hermione appeared again. Harry hammered the tip in place and added the weapon to a rack. His aura wasn't escaping as it had been before. Every swing of his hammer had taken on precise control. There was skill to his work like a painter's brush. Every swing was a stroke bringing his art to life.

"Harry Quirrell's stuttering has changed again. It isn't like any of his other patterns. Something is about to happen." Hermione gushed. Harry glanced at her admiring the curls of her hair and the softness of her lips.

"Don't worry Hermione nothing will happen to you." Harry said.

He felt more control over his aura with every swing of his hammer. Soon he'd be safe around others. Hermione didn't dare step beyond the doorway and into the smithy proper. It was the development of her sixth sense. She felt the danger of his power.

"It isn't about me it's about everyone else. Don't you care about them?" Hermione yelled. "The teachers have written me off as mad and no one believes me. Not even the first years want to believe Quirrell is anything but a stuttering fool."

"Your solution is an execution. That's what it would become. Can you live with it sentencing a man to his death?" Harry beat against the steel feeling himself taking control. Hermione left him again.

Days passed and the time was coming. Harry had forgone the smith's hammer to meditate and snatch more control over his aura. It was a thrill to feel his control grow with every moment he touched his power. His qi grew and his aura control grew. The growth had become slow over the week. His control had grown to the point he could open a door without shattering them. From this point he no longer contained his aura.

With his control over his aura came an increase in his sixth sense. He felt it when the headmaster's powerful consciousness left. He felt for Quirrell's consciousness and found him absent. What he sensed was the consciousness of the two headed creature from the woods. How did it get in the castle?

Nomine slithered through his robe and hid. Harry took a short sword, a spear, and clunky war hammer from the rack. He returned to the castle and floated to the third-floor corridor. The door was locked.

Harry swung his Warhammer and shattered the door. He walked into the room letting his sixth sense sweep through it. Not that he needed to, Harry remembered the vision.

The Cerberus woke up from the door's destruction and froze in place. Harry raised his hand pointing it at the nearby wall. From purity spiral a circular light appeared on the wall. The Cerberus gave chase. Harry let the hound of hell chase after the light as he found the trap door. He pointed his hand down and blasted flames down.

With the devil's snare ash, he dropped down the trap door. He moved slowly to the next room and hesitated. Harry had grown in leaps and bounds. He was a realm above his former power, but he'd lost before.

He stood in the eye of a storm of flying keys. The door beyond waited for him locked. If he wanted to, he could destroy the door and move forward. Instead, he plucked a key from the sky and shattered the others upon his barrier. Cracked shattered keys piled up at his feet until only the key in his hand remained.

He opened the door and glided through. On the other side, he met the chess set. Harry left the ground as his aura pushed him up. He never touched the board and flew over the flames of another obstacle.

A troll was in his path like a stone on flat pavement. Harry kicked it into the flames and watched it struggle and burn. He turned his back on the monster and approached the final room.

He opened the final door to see the creature. Its back was against the mirror and its eyes were sightless. Quirrell was long dead only a host.

"Hello Harry Potter, we meet again as we were meant to." The voice was soft and youthful.

"How long has Quirrell been a corpse?" Harry questioned.

"Oh him, a week no more. I was running out of time. Sacrifices must be made. He was willing enough to say yes for me. I promised, I'd bring him back someday." Harry drew his wand slowly along with a spear.

The creature turned to Harry. Its face was youthful and ice crystals formed around it. Harry could sense darkness flowing through this creature. It grew strengthening the monster.

Harry felt his heart beat faster, as this monster vanished from sight. His spear flashed as the ground cracked open and the shards grew into serpents. Hands of stone shot out grabbing for Harry as he dodged stone fangs. After impaling one of the stone cobras, he thrust his wand unleashing sever all.

Orbs of sever all shot around dividing everything into their simple parts. Harry thrust his wand and unleashed a gout of fire. The creature flicked his wand and Harry felt the flames change. They no longer burned his foe.

The monster flicked his wand sending the dust around and Harry's sever all homed on the dust. Soon the room was obscured with dust and green aura. Harry burst through the dust and drove his spear forward. The monster moved quickly dodging the initial attack and flicked his wand.

The mirror's surface had been fogged over. Water from the fog became ice needles, shot towards Harry, and shattered against Harry's shield. Harry saw himself in the mirror and another Harry put a red stone in his pocket.

In that moment of distraction Harry felt magic slide over him and take control of his robe. His robe began strangling him. Harry felt a something smash against his shield and drill. With a roar he tore his robe apart. His consciousness power met the drilling green lights and shattered their deathly will.

Harry felt foreign magic attempt to overturn his own magic. It was a struggle that lasted half a second, but it was long enough for his opponent's plan to succeed. After all Voldemort needed a new body or the power to remake one.

"Do you know who made that rock?" Harry asked.

"Nicolas Flamel, Harry I thought you were smart for a child." The stone sunk into Voldemort's body. Red veins appeared around the dark lord's body.

"No Voldemort, the true maker of that rock is the order of Lucifer. It was an imitation of a dragon lord's spark." Harry said.

"Nicolas Flemal was a part of that order when he made this stone. What does its history matter? I have it now." The darkness solidified and Voldemort morphed. He was becoming himself again.

"Now Harry, I've become a lord of dragons." The darkness erupted growing stronger than ever before. The dark lord's body was hundreds of times stronger than it had been. "Now, I'll finish what I started nearly a decade ago."

"That stone isn't made for a mortal body." Harry whispered. The skin above Voldemort's hand split open and darkness rushes out. The dark lord's muscles bulged and more skin split. "You could never survive it." The wand in the dark lord's hand shattered. He roared and threw himself at Harry.

Harry had waited for this moment when the creature lost control. The various protection spells and dark magics that protected the dark lord's body were still in effect. Various dark forces protected him infusing him with ever more dark essence. There was a flaw in the design. That body didn't belong to Voldemort. The darkness wasn't designed for it. The dragon lord spark magnified that problem. That meant this was Harry's greatest chance to win.

Green light flashed around Harry as his aura erupted. Harry took his fine control he'd developed and used it to unleash more power.

He delivered a terrible blow on his foe's stomach. Organs minced under the pressure as darkness spewed from the dark lord's mouth. Muscles bulged around the monster's abdomen shielding the damaged area. Harry unleashed a barrage of blows faster and faster.

A powerful blow smashed against his head though it wasn't enough to go through his barrier. He threw his hands up increasing his defense as Voldemort delivered his own blows. Each fist had grown bone spikes on the knuckles. They moved faster as the beast grew accustomed to the brawl. Flesh grew back, and Harry realized the dark lord was changing the body faster than expected.

Harry delivered a blow only for the monster to shrug it off. It was adapted faster than before. He pulled his spear from his back and stabbed it through Voldemort's knee. The flesh immediately grew around the spear and snapped the wooden shaft. Harry pulled his Warhammer and smashed the head into Voldemort's sternum.

Black hair began to sprout from the dark lord's head his face was taking on a youthful appearance. Harry pulled his short sword just as the monster pulled the hammer free. The dark lord took the hammer and held it over his head. Two disks of sever all shot out slamming into the dark lord's elbows.

The flesh continued knit back as it was severed. Harry stabbed his sword forward through the dark lord's nose and into his brain. At that moment, he summoned twelve sever all in his palm and directed them at the dark lord's spark. A green beam fired from his hand. It struck the stone and separated the connection.

In that moment a shield enveloped the stone. Harry took hold of his wand and ended the spell protecting Voldemort from fire. Fire was Harry's most familiar weapon.

Harry twisted the sword and the dark lord froze stunned as the damage healed. He stabbed the sword again separating the dark lord's brain stem. He left the sword inside and cupped his hands.

Green flame gathered in his palms. The world warped as the heat gathered and consumed the oxygen in the air. Harry thrust forward and the world warped. Everything melted as if it were his dream under Fawkes' song. Light merged with his flames and he felt his spark thrum and his brain spasm.

It was the aura that protected his mind from melting into mush. It was his spark that kept a record of his memories. As his mind melted under the strain of merging two elements, he watched the world turn to ash. It was as beautiful as Fawkes promised.

He fell into darkness as the molten stone melted around him. Only a rock shielded in darkness remained. It tumbled out of an ash pile and the shadow formed. It had no body only the stone remained.

"You may have beaten me this time my rival, but I'll be back. Next time I won't be unprepared." The dark lord promised. "Rest my foe and grow when next we meet our battle shall fell the heavens and fracture the earth." The wraith said. "Remember my name I am Lord Voldemort."

The wraith flew up through the molten ceiling. Harry felt its presence quickly vanish. This wasn't a victory. The stone glowed brightly in the dark cavern; it was beautiful. He didn't know when he passed out only that he did.

Harry awoke surrounded by hardened rock. His head still throbbed but his brain wasn't leaking from his ears. He flexed his aura and burst from the stone. Dumbledore walked through the cavern with a bubble over his head. Professor Snape and McGonagall had joined him. Harry raised his wand and whispered lumos. His voice came out as a scratchy wisp.

Light flooded the room and the teachers stared at him. McGonagall quickly conjured a robe for him. Harry spat out a mouthful of blood and put the robe on.

"Are you ok Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked.

"Get back this place isn't safe." Professor Snape shouted. Harry watched as the dark-haired professor conjure a wall of lead and blocked off the room.

"You irradiated the room Harry." Dumbledore said. Harry couldn't tell if he was confused or reprimanding. It could have been both.

"Radiation destroys DNA the blueprint of life. Darkness requires stability to have form." Harry defended. He hadn't thought of that beforehand, but it was a good excuse as any.

"There is a reason why we don't use that Harry. We aren't immune to the effects of radiation. You'll need to see Poppy and receive a full physical." Dumbledore said. Currently, Harry was blocking out the radiation with aura. He was more worried about the mortal teachers than himself. His DNA was recorded by his spark and repaired through purity spiral.

Harry let himself fallback against a cool stone wall. This fight had been interesting to say the least.

…

Much later Harry was in the school infirmary. The soft bed was annoying, he'd prefer to be back in his forge hammering away at a new sword.

He barely noticed the spells sweeping over him. Still, it was a struggle not to resist them. They barely grazed his magic and weren't harmful, but Harry was wary of magic. Being chocked and blinded by his own robe had been distracting. It was a problem that must have a solution.

Hermione visited him in the hospital. She meditated next to him as he went through a large tray of potions. Apparently, he was irradiated to some degree but living with it. "How your hair hasn't fallen out yet is a mystery to me Mr. Potter." Madam Pomphrey said. No matter the potion he remained irradiated. It was purity spiral or maybe purity spiral was the reason he lived.

Purity spiral never remained active unless it was healing him. Harry sighed as the school nurse left. "What does it feel like to be powerful?" Hermione asked.

"I've stepped into a world of responsibility. There is a fair amount more at stake than test scores." That was the truest he could be. He had played for a complete spark and lost. Voldemort had walked away absent a body but stronger than ever. As he grew stronger Harry was sure more would be on the table.

A form blurred and Nomine grew from an imperceptibly tiny creature into a raven-haired woman. She'd sought refuge in his body by changing into a microorganism.

"Would you give such responsibility to anyone else?" Nomine asked.

"No never," Harry refuted out of hand. He took hold of responsibility because it belonged to him. Who else had the power to face Voldemort now? Fawkes could surely but power came at a price. Harry was paying for his in a way. Its why he took on responsibility.

"What if I reach your level and don't take on the responsibilities?" Hermione asked. Nomine chuckled softly.

"She has you there. You've opened the way for her. Why should she bind herself as you have?" Nomine asked.

"There are always strings attached. Blinding yourself won't change what is." Harry said.

"What strings are attached to me Harry?" Hermione asked.

"You're a qi expert and a witch. Who are the enemies of qi experts and witches?" Harry asked.

"You're not as blind as you were Harry. I have a gift for you." Nomine said.

She pulled a letter from his nightstand and handed it to him.

Dear Mr. Potter

You will find a fallen star in the land of the rising sun.

V V

Harry thought it was a trap. The letter was short, sweet, and bereft of detail. Japan wasn't the largest country, but it would be difficult to search. A fallen star wasn't necessarily a star spawn. He wouldn't mind traveling.

"Well Nomine, we're going to Japan." Harry said.

"Just like that master." Nomine said.

"How are you going to get there Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I'll fly," Harry said.

"Who still wants to hurt witches?" Nomine rolled her eyes in response.

"Hermione, I'm sure there are plenty of crazy people out there who would burn a witch. God hates sorcery of any kind." He held back that all gods would either use her or have their followers sacrifice her.

The rest of the year passed in a blur. They lost the house cup to Slytherin. Hagrid's hut exploded in a fiery inferno to a young dragon. Harry spent more time at the forge than in a classroom.

He was learning something from the steel. It felt like he was on the cusp of enlightenment only for the knowledge to escape him. As maddening as the end of the year was he enjoyed preparing for his journey to Japan.

Thank you for reading.

Author's note: Hey this first year has taken a while to get out mainly because of my own detour. The next few chapters will be all about the summer. There will be many lockheart chapters after the summer.


	19. Chapter 19

**Edited 05/04/2020**

It was in the train station that for the first time Harry felt a powerful foreign qi. Harry kept his own qi concealed to that of a sixth stage refinery, only his controlled aura gave away the truth. As of leaving platform nine and three quarters he brushed against a seventh stage. Harry was shocked that such a being could exist let alone wait for him at the train station. Or was it waiting for him at all? This could just be a coincidence.

The only way to find out was to test this individual. He made his way through the crowd. The qi expert followed behind him. A sudden violent hand brushed against his mind. It was the first time he felt another's sixth sense. He pushed forth the power of a mid-level refinery expert. The sensation lasted for a moment, but the presence dug no further. It was like being bit by an ant and not crushing it. His aura smoldered ready to spark and light up this foreign cultivator.

The crowd was congested; pick pocketing the few richly dressed gentlemen around him was simple. It brought him back to late nights when he snuck from his cupboard to sneak food. Like in those times, he made sure to take what might not be noticed. He took the cash and left the cards and large bills.

Harry made his way out and haled a taxi. Just as he added his luggage to the trunk the figure emerged. A man in his mid-twenties dressed like any other Englishman moved with very human speed. His eyes flashed a blue color upon seeing Harry. The chase was on.

He directed the taxi to number 4 private drive and promised him a little extra when he arrived. The man looked strangely at the promise of an eleven-year-old but drove on with Harry's luggage.

Each public place Harry entered was darkened by the shadow of the man. The eateries, bus stops, and shops always held the figure. He waited patiently as Harry finished his errands, even taking a table himself in a restaurant and flirting with the pretty waitress. Never had Harry dealt with another true cultivator. Hermione didn't count, she was barely above a mortal. Nomine wrapped tightly around his neck in cobra form when he brushed by his pursuer. He met the eyes of his pursuer and felt a tiny message travel between them, he made his way to a back alley.

"Why are you following me?" Harry asked.

"Lad my name is Carl Brown and your dangerous. The source asked me to collect our wondering brothers and sisters who gain great power. You are one dangerous child. You're nearly as strong as I am. Boy, and I'm bloody strong." Carl said.

"My name is Harry Potter. What source are you talking about?" Harry asked. There was no source to their power other than the essence of heaven and earth. Essence had no consciousness by itself.

"You aren't the first child we've found there are others. You'll have a family of those like you. Qi experts who understand you more deeply than any mortal could." Carl said.

His words held little appeal to Harry. Except for a burning curiosity. What would the first sect look like? Harry had always imagined them as violent unsophisticated tribes. Who was this source and how powerful was he?

Harry left with the man and they haled a taxi. They left the small shops near the train station and entered the jungle of skyscrapers. Soon they reached one such sky-scraping building where essence was incredibly thick. He resisted the urge to draw upon it and suck the essence dry. He stalled his own refinery to pass off the mid refinery stage. It felt like holding his breath.

He pulled his wand and whispered," confundo."

Mortal men moved upon strings and opened the doors for them. They were dressed in fine clothes and smiled happily as they opened the doors. On the surface that was all but Harry's sixth sense was powerful. He could look beneath the flesh and see the depression. They were human's bound by the will of another incapable of resisting. Their flesh was their prison.

"They used to bully me in college. There was a girl I liked. I was kind to her, gentle, and loving. Despite doing her homework, working a second job to pay her rent, and being her shoulder to cry on. She chose to be with them. They who treated her like a toy, a tool, and then cast her aside. I begged them not to take her and I begged her not to be with them. Anyone but them, I begged her. She said she loved them, and I should accept that. Don't feel sorry for them Harry." Carl said.

"Why here of all places?" Harry asked.

"I wanted them to know that everyone who walked through these doors would be above them. I wanted them to suffer, serve, and despair." He said.

"Why didn't your master stop you?" Harry asked. Carl looked shocked at his words.

"He doesn't stop us from chasing after our desires. He encourages them but if we ever disobey him, he'll use them against us. That's what he does." Carl said.

"What happened to the girl you liked?" Harry asked. Carl looked at Harry blearily he blinked trying to battle Harry's consciousness for a moment. Harry slammed his own will down crushing Carl's.

"He took her for himself. If I ever disobey him, he'll give her back to me one limb at a time." Carl said. Harry let the spell fade as they entered the lobby proper.

"Ah elder Brown you've found a powerful new addition to our sect. Please take the elevator to the top. The source will finish with his business shortly and meet with your young friend."

The elevator quickly took them up to the highest floor. Harry stepped out and saw fresh blood on the floor.

"Do not worry, young Harry. The blood is mortal and foreign at that. We import our sacrifices to keep the authorities none the wiser. Consider it us doing our part to limit over population." Carl said.

They entered a room covered in an archaic language. Harry pulled long recorded memories from Gondor. This was the language of the order of Lucifer. It was based on ancient Babylonian script and updated throughout the millennium. This text had been transformed again.

This place was a well of essence powered by death. Beyond the door was a woman that wasn't a woman dressed like a secretary. Her true appearance couldn't be hidden from Harry's senses. This was the mechanism, the machine that turned death into an outpour of essence.

"Oh, is this little guy a new member of the sect. He is a powerful one. Come to me child let me have a taste of you." A force unlike Harry had ever felt swept over his consciousness. It entered his mind through his vision and there was no protecting himself. Seeing this woman's naked flesh left his defenses useless. It was an optical magic unlike any he'd ever felt or could deal with.

"Come to me." He walked towards her before he could rip himself free. With delicate hands she removed his trousers and underclothes. A touch from her sent his mind into chaos.

Harry raised his hands and wrapped them around her throat. A smile like he'd never seen and may never again stretched her face.

"Go away now Carl, I'll take him the rest of the way." She croaked.

"I could stay and keep you company after. Surely a boy can't satisfy you." Carl said dreamily.

"Maybe next time my pet. Go back to your duties, I'll tell the master you brought this one." She looked up at him and their eyes met. His hands squeezed to snap powerful demonic bone. She opened her mouth to reveal a soft tongue and an inviting cavernous throat. His member rested on her tongue and she closed her mouth and let her heat surround him.

He never wanted to leave. She was so much more than beautiful. It felt like a sin that would stain him in ways he couldn't imagine. If he didn't fight her, he'd always be hers.

Her eyes widened as his strength increased. He felt demonic bone crack as he forced himself inside of her. Something was stirring inside of him. His strength continued to increase as he felt her dark enter him.

He watched her body go limp as he choked her. Bones fragmented in his hand as he felt the wetness of her throat. Fragments of bone poked from her neck as she continued to pleasure him. Tears must have fallen from her eyes and landed on his thighs.

Clarity was frightening; he released inside her collapsed throat. His mouth opened and he let out a silent roar as his mind snapped back into place. The dark of her mind slipped into his qi. She froze there frightened. For the first, time he felt a consciousness leave his qi and return to a body.

He fell back on his rear shaken and relieved. When next he looked at her, she still slipped past his eyes, but there was understanding. That's what Harry thought he felt from her when their eyes met. She'd been in his qi. Her mind had been within him and left behind pieces. There was also a fair chance she knew about his true power level. As intimate as they had been there was no way he'd risk losing his cover. He'd thought he'd killed her before; he still shook from the experience. What would it matter if he made her death permanent?

"Don't kill me." Her voice didn't have any of its predatory valor. It made him pause. He wished he'd taken a sword with him. It made killing more efficient. Without it he'd never have separated Voldemort's brain stem. He missed his sword.

His hands were around her throat again. Her bones were healed but fragile. He pushed her to the blood-soaked ground. His knuckled fell behind her into gristle. Disgust covered his features at the still living human parts that littered the floor. This beastly act made him want to wipe out the whole sect.

He focused away from the primitive sect's atrocities and onto the demoness. Her eyes were filled with dark secrets and crimes against mankind. She told him with her eyes that she had been asked to teach the primitive sect master how to sacrifice. It was this creature who warped the human body of a cultivator into its current demonic form. This creature was no different from the dominators. She fed on emotions and filled her prey with lust. It devoured what mortals thought souls were to nourish itself.

All this information came from the demon itself. It told no lies. Harry didn't take chances not with this kind of creature. He plunged his sixth sense into it and filled it to the brim. This cup ran over with his inquiry.

It awoke his inner explorer. Harry didn't want this moment to end or for the mystery to be revealed in full. He could guess about her. Voldemort had given Harry the clues he needed to piece this existence together.

"Please spare me. I don't want to die." Harry knew what had happened. It was a trick she had. She used it to feed. Only instead of blood and death, she used sexual fluids and death.

Harry stood and pulled up his pants. If he could have saved the one who owned that body he might have. Her consciousness had long been digested. It had been used as a bridge to facilitate the transformation from human to demon. Though the complete transformation could take years.

"Claudia Von Isenberg," Harry whispered. Her eyes widened at the name she'd taken for herself. In her fear she'd left behind information. Harry had a spark to record things his human mind couldn't. This thing was a consciousness formed from dark essence. That's what it had been. Unfortunately, it had the secrets of cultivation. It was now a consciousness formed from qi. It was the energy that inhabited the cultivator's body.

She was dangerous. Harry could kill her. She had slipped his grasp before shedding her qi to get back to her body. He was aware enough to kill her immediately. Only she'd fight until the end. That battle wouldn't be easy.

"Your too dangerous to let live." She'd shed her true name and the fear that it could bind her. She hadn't given him the means to bind her. He couldn't trust her not to have some loophole. The people here thought she was bound to them. He had fragments and corrupted memories. It wasn't clear enough to get a full picture. She lost some and he'd copied a lot before she left him.

He plunged his hand into her stomach and gripped her spine. She opened her mouth and cried out in pleasure and fear. Harry pulled his hand free leaving her a moaning mess. The flesh was already regenerating. She was powerful and full of qi. This was a succubus with a body at the ninth stage of refinery. He wasn't sure if she had the knowledge to reach the next stage or not. Inflicting pain on her left her mind unbalanced.

Harry took a step back and let her slump to the floor. Blood never touched his hand. A barrier had protected him. It shimmered over his hand covered in crimson.

Nomine leapt from his coat and bit her. A chemical cocktail filled the succubus' veins. She opened her dilated eyes.

"I can't let you live free. Tell me how to bind you." Harry asked. It was left to him to take responsibility for this monster unleashed upon the world. He'd been the one who unleashed the secrets of cultivation.

How was he to know they'd summon a demon? Who told them to take her dark knowledge? Where was their morality when they used it? Did immortality give them license to do whatever they wanted? Harry knew he wouldn't do as they did. Killing innocents for a slight increase in power was wasteful.

"You have my name but I'm not going to teach you how to use it on me. I'll never tell you the words. 'Claudia, I bind you in the name of the 3rd circle.' Nor will I give you the words, 'Claudia upon the throne of lust I bind you to me.' I definitely won't tell you to say, 'Claudia I bind you in unholy matrimony. I take you from your demon lord and steal you forever more.'" She stuck her tongue out at him, as she wobbled on her feet.

"What does the last one mean?" Harry asked.

"You'll never know the words to use it, but it means you take me from the demon lord Helen." She started to giggle uncontrollably.

Harry didn't want to bind her at all. He had no use for a demon. On the other hand, it would give him a pair of eyes on the sect here.

"Claudia Von Isenberg, I bind you in unholy matrimony. I take you from your demon lord and steal you forever more." Harry said the words in his cracking voice and felt something change. Old magic with rules Harry didn't understand was at work. It happened and then it ended.

It wasn't a leash as he expected. Harry felt an ancient memory in his spark. It was passed down from eons ago. Demons bound in the old way weren't enslaved. He'd become her master, but she could slay him if he wasn't careful. That wasn't his goal, but she couldn't kill him unless he begged her to. Whoever died would lose their soul to the other.

The ancient kernel of information had nothing more. "Where is the master of this place?" Harry asked.

"The fool is behind the vault door on the next floor. The top floors are filled with vaults. He is greedy and loves keeping things that can be used against his servants later. He is just like a demon." Claudia said.

"What should I call you?" Harry asked.

"Rose, we try to keep our true names far from mortal ears." Claudia said. She looked somewhat human in the way the frowned with her puffy lips. Her nose was simply too perfect. Her eyebrows looked manicured, and not a hair on her head was out of place. There were still a few blemishes on her body, but they were few.

"You'll tell me everything about the sect while I'm gone." Harry ordered.

"No, I'm going to do my job and you'll have to find another spy. I'm loyal to the sect." She said.

"So, you weren't trying to suck my soul out." Harry said.

"You would have left relaxed and soul intact. I am loyal to the sect, but you've stuck us in a terrible situation. If one of us die, we'll have a soul death match." Claudia said.

"Then you better not die, or I'll gobble you up." Harry said.

"You could choose not to eat me. I could find another body and I'll do the same for you, promise." Claudia said.

"You should have let this situation pass you by." Nomine said. Harry nodded but said nothing. He rolled his shoulders.

"Why all the sacrifices? There are easier ways to advance." Harry said.

"Not for an entire sect. It's not like they'll be missed. We took from the congested tribes of Africa, the overpopulated islands of the pacific, and the forgotten villages in the middle east. The market was in place long before we placed our orders." She was speaking as a spokeswoman for the sect.

Harry took a breath and instantly began draining the essence dry. His aura was well concealed, and his qi never outwardly exposed more than mid-level refinery. The well dried in moments. Like a man gasping after holding his breath Harry had breathed deeply. The living blood and flesh continued to pump out essence as Harry took it in. Once his intake stabilized the well of essence was dry. He consumed faster than the essence pump could draw from the flesh.

She frowned at his sudden gluttony. "You made your point stop." She demanded.

"You'll direct this sect to war against the gods. If I return and find worshipers in your numbers, I'll wipe the sect clean."

It wasn't over. Harry knew enough about the world to know that. He'd given his orders, but humans didn't do anything without a certain amount of force. Why would demons be much different?

"I'll meet your sect master now." Harry said.

"Of course, Master, I'm sure you'll love him as I do." She said with a cheerful voice.

Author's note: Ok short chapter but the first sect it up and running. Harry is going to join and get his secret sect decoder ring and handshake before returning to private drive. After private drive he's off to Japan.

Give me a review and tell me what you think.


	20. Chapter 20

**Edited 05/04/2020**

Harry had come home from school clutching a book protectively in his hands. He'd rushed for his cupboard hoping no one would notice him. At the age of eight he struggled with the words in 'The Lord of the Rings'.

Scarcely on the second chapter the door burst open. Vernon stood there with a smug Dudley behind him. A large grubby hand reached out and snatched the book away. As his uncle read the title his face turned beat red then purple. He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him from the cupboard.

What scared Harry the most was his Uncle's lack of words. He didn't say boy that isn't aloud. Boy you should be doing chores. Instead he silently took Harry to the master bedroom.

"It seems you're too stubborn for soft lessons. We'll try a hard one this time and if you can bloody learn. "

His uncle pulled Harry's pants down and removed his belt. Lash after lash rained down on his rear, back, and legs. It was a pain that stained his memory. Sometimes hard lessons were needed to get the point across. That didn't mean they'd learn what you taught them. Without pain there was no adaption. It was still years before Harry was brave enough to take any book to private drive.

That lesson was scarred into his memory as surely as in his flesh. Though the wounds had closed remarkably well; Harry never forgot the lesson. He remembered and carried the lesson with him. If something was forbidden hide it well and if you want someone to follow your rules, make the punishment stick.

Harry climbed a massive stairwell leading to the uppermost floors of the building. The walls on these floors were caked in pulsating inflamed flesh. Large yellow boils covered the walls pulsing and twitching occasionally a leak would open. Harry watched old dead white blood cells fall from a boil like a waterfall. All the while the flesh worked as a great conductor pulling the energy of heaven and earth.

He made sure to pay close attention to the living children stitched together with homeless, and elderly. Flesh from the walls slowly crept over them. Large flesh vines shot from the walls to collect victims and pull them into hidden openings. As he climbed higher, he heard screaming.

"It seems we have reached the fresh victims." Nomine hissed.

Harry silently observed the building, he didn't want to miss a detail. On the next stairwell. He saw with his very human eyes the horror. Mortals were used to bind mortals. Harry saw black strings attached to those who stitched children, men, and women together with needle and thread. They were bound living to the walls as the red flesh crept up. Blood fell only for tongues from the red creep to catch it. Teeth jutted from around this floor. A long tentacle reached up an took a group of stitched humans. It took them and impaled a few of their number on jutting teeth. Flesh quickly climbed around the new corpses and began to spread to the other victims.

Now a word was shed from his lips as he climbed the stairwell. He kept his aura under control. This place was a hell designed by cultivators. If anything could be considered evil, it was this place. Yet Harry had other words for it that would work as well. He had questions.

"Nomine is the threat of the gods enough to overlook this?" Harry asked.

"You didn't seem too bothered before. You were warned and yet this place still stands." Nomine said.

"I couldn't conceive of something so wasteful. This is beyond me." Harry said.

"What do you want to do?" Nomine asked.

"I want to exterminate this sect." Harry said, and continued. "I want to make what I do to this sect a lesson for others. If you commit these atrocities, I'll come and destroy you." Harry finished.

"What law are they breaking? You aren't a human any longer. Is this any different than what humans do to cows?" Nomine said. "The next sect to do this will be sneakier than the last." She added.

"How many lives were wasted for so little gain. The forbidden forest generates more essence than this." Harry argued.

"That may be, but this is a city. They have no forest to draw from only a vast supply of humans. They are merely inefficient." She defended.

"The essence of this place is easier to cultivate because it made from humans. Most of the refinement process has already been completed by using human essence. As a tradeoff bottlenecks are harder to break through. The stress of refining essence into qi lowers the probability of bottle necks. Of course, that only applies to the refinery stage. At the foundry its free qi with no drawbacks." Harry said.

"So, this is more beneficial for you than others. You stand to gain the most for the suffering of these mortals. Are you close to another breakthrough?" She asked.

"The foundry doesn't work like the refinery stage. Having more aura isn't better. Control is the most important for this level." Harry hissed back.

At the highest levels of the building he saw massive arteries imbedded in the walls. Machines were attached to these vessels taking blood and crafting stones from it. Harry could sense vast quantities of concentrated essence from the stones. It was enough to blow through a few bottle necks.

"I stand to gain a lot from this place. Having more aura in the long term is beneficial. Humans become us, we may use a few here and there but this scale is industrialized murder. The war hasn't started, and we aren't desperate. This is a waste of life." Harry decided

"They won't see it that way. They'll spread word of Harry Potter the tyrant. The one who restricts the creativity of immortals. This was merely the ugly beginnings. We planned to use cloning later promise. We only needed to kill a million humans to get critical mass." She hissed.

"No, they won't, I'll say what happens and they'll be too dead to contradict me." Harry said and continued. "That's how history works."

"True." Nomine conceded. "Unfortunately, one always gets away." She said.

The vault door opened revealing a man in his 40s. Harry stabbed his sixth sense into the man picking up his stage 10 refinery qi. The man winced. "It seems you learned to use your dark gifts like Carl. Some training will help with that. I'm sure your shocked by what you saw but we aren't human anymore we're something else. My name is David King, what's your young man." Harry's eyes flashed green and the man's black.

"Why kill so many people?" Harry demanded.

"Come now boy they aren't even from here. Carl must have told you. We import the dregs and cast offs from the primitive parts of the world. At least we give them a purpose. You've read the book you know we have enemies. My father helped save the world from Hitler this is my time." David said.

"I've fought a servant of our enemies they are beyond most mid refinery experts." Harry conceded. "They turned the mortals in my neighborhood into worshipers then used them to patch its wounds.

"They can use mortals to patch their wounds. Who exactly are they? I've heard very little of the enemy. You're the first person I've met to make contact." David said.

On the desk were piles of blood stones. They ran over falling on the floor. Each of the stones was a color different than the last. The darker the color the more essence stored within. Harry glanced over seeing a lion's head mounted on the wall. On the floor of the office were Persian rugs. A chalice of the old Roman empire laid upon a pedestal filled with black stones. Each of those stones were filled with dark but human essence.

Harry snatched the chalice from its pedestal and inspected it. He picked a stone out that was darker than the others. Held within the stone was a cloudy mist pulsing with chaos. Katana from Japan decorated the walls closest to the desk. Harry picked one out and pulled the blade free. He admired the way the steel sang to him. It was made in the forge fires of feudal Japan. It was one of the blades taken by the allies towards the end of the war. The blade wanted blood.

"Please take your time answering me. I know my office holds quite a collection of goodies." David was much like a lazy dragon sleeping upon his horde. The kind slain while sleeping. He put the blade back in its sheath and returned it to the wall.

"There are more monsters discarded by pantheons than stars in the sky. The star spawn is one such group. They look like squid dragon men and want to resurrect Cthulhu. They drive men mad and use them much like this sect does." Harry said.

"I assure you we have only the best intentions in mind for humanity. Britain will prosper once again under out rule. The sun will never set on the British empire once more." Harry held no loyalty to Britain.

"Can't you stop this slaughter?" Harry said.

"You're just a boy. What do you know about gathering a group together and making them strong? This city is barren. The essence here is so mixed up its impossible to refine it quickly enough to advance in any meaningful way. If we had another way, we would use it." The man's eyes were manic. Harry could sense very little consciousness power in the man. He had less than Harry had before Hogwarts. As a tenth stage refinery that was abysmal. If this is necessary maybe he should allow it.

Harry frowned at his own thoughts. There was no good or evil only pleasure and pain. The pain of limitations created the need for this place. This will be found out and then humanity will turn against them. Harry was in on this no matter what. Even if he destroyed them, he'd share their reputation. Their witch burnings will involve nuclear fire. He'd need to make plans to leave the planet. Mars was relatively close.

His aura exploded around him free and vengeful. He turned to David. The man frowned upon feeling Harry's true cultivation level.

"There was already a sect out there with this idea. We haven't cornered the market. You know how we acquire our sacrifices." David muttered.

"No, I didn't need to sacrifice humans. The best sacrifices are the gods and their kin. In exchange for your existence you're going to give me a stipend." Harry said.

"I see is there already a government." David asked.

"There is a military, we demand your support in exchange for protection." Harry said.

"What does that make our sect?" David asked. The man was quick to adapt. Harry liked that.

"You are a civilian city state. Its normal to give support to your military. Now, I'm going to invade another country. I'd appreciate if your sect came in behind me to collect the spoils." Harry said.

"Can the gods really replace thousands of people?" The man asked.

"Was it worth it?" The man frowned for a moment.

"It's for the greater good of qi experts." The man said. His eyes gave him away.

Harry was across the room in an instant. His hands grasped the man's head and his thumbs sunk in through an eye. The screaming started after that. Harry withdrew his thumb slowly. The man's eye had exploded like a grape.

"You've lived up here too long. You forgot what pain felt like." Harry delivered a powerful blow sending the man out of his rolling chair. His face painfully smashed against a wall.

Harry raised his foot over the man's knee and stomped. Flesh and bone melded into pink paste. The man continued to scream. It did him no good the room was in a vault. Now sound could escape.

"Please, stop I'll give you the building. The deed it in the treasure room behind me. Let me go, I'll work for you." The vault door opened, and Claudia walked in. "Rose help me seduce this monster he's trying to undo everything." She didn't say a word.

She walked in hips swaying and lip up a cigar. Her lips sucked on it making lewd noises before she took it out of her mouth and put it out on her own skin. Claudia moaned as the cigar went out. There wasn't a blemish on her skin when she removed the cigar. She pouted cutely while looking down at David.

"So long as we are useful to each other we won't turn on one another. That was our agreement. I think you'd be more useful feeding the machine below." She tussled David's hair before grabbing a hand full of it.

"No don't feed me to the building." David screamed.

"Who's going to take over for him?" Harry asked.

"For evil to prosper good men must only ignore it." Nomine hissed.

"The board of elders will decide a new master among those strong enough to hold the office. I'm disqualified due to my status as a private contractor. I'd bet souls James the Gravedigger gets it." She paused before pulling needle and thread from her pocket. She kissed David and bit off his tongue. Then she began to sew his mouth shut.

David joined the sacrifices purchased by the sect. He was taken and added to the wall. A fleshy tentacle quickly took him with his group. David avoided a quick death by impalement. The building soon spread over him. The well of essence increased significantly. Harry felt it increase by more than ten times. Just as it seemed to settle it increased by another magnitude.

"What is that creature?" Harry asked.

"It's a demon born from my womb and David's seed. Have no fear, I control it, and I'm loyal to the sect." Claudia said.

"What's the sect's name?" Harry asked.

"David was a fan of resident evil. He named us Umbrella."

"Is victory worth all the death? Is it worth the betrayal of your morals?" Nomine hissed.

"Victory," Harry hissed the words. He remembered the beating from Uncle Vernon. He found hidey holes for his books from then after. With the book he escaped this world for a time. The misery, hate, and even his anxiety was gone for a time. Harry remembered the feeling of winning. He never took reading without fear for granted again. Only with the library did he slip up.

"I tell you if we win. The mortals will become our enemies as surely as the gods." Harry hissed.

Back in the highest office Harry began cleaning out the vault. He swept through the treasures. He found 20k American, piles of blood stones, and an old occult book. Harry found the page bookmarked that summoned Claudia. All of it went to his mokeskin pouch or as he called it, his bag of holding. Harry held up a hand full of blood stones and quickly absorbed them. In an instant his qi increased by 10%.

With his bag full, he went up to the roof. On the roof was a helipad complete with a personal helicopter. Harry leapt off the roof and flew for number 4 private drive. He had a house to order and a trip to plan.


	21. Chapter 21

**Edited 05/06/2020**

An eerie fog had settled over private drive. Harry's eyes widened in sudden realization, his bounds to his aunt and the two staff members were cut. They had been cut for a long time; he hadn't noticed. He'd been fooled by something. When he saw his stuff on the ground, he felt his teeth grind. He found his stuff waiting for him on the street. He pushed his sixth sense against the fog.

The fog was a wall immutable. His sixth sense his greatest sensory tool used to detect and react to his worst enemies, failed. This wall of fog obscured his sixth sense leaving him blind within the fog. He felt no more insight on what lay beyond the fog than a blind mortal.

"There are more magics that exist than man can dream. This is one such magic." Nomine hissed.

Within his spark there was a hint to what this fog was. This fog was a conjured by a cockatrice. It was likely dispatched to deal with him. If Harry had been here, he would have died. From the depths of the fog, a presence left obscurity. Harry felt the powerful presence vanish too quickly to identify. This might be his only chance. He needed to go in and kill the monster quickly.

Harry pushed his aura against the mist and opened the way. The entirety of private drive had been petrified. Holes were opened in the stone exposing it to the sky. Those holes weren't natural, something tore into the cars and houses after they were petrified. Harry could hear the flapping of great wings as the mist stirred and hid private drive from world once more. He raised the hood of his invisibility cloak.

The beast hissed. "Stone for my lord. Stone that gazes to the sky. Terminus. oh, great lord let this sacrifice please you." Harry ducked behind a car as the beast landed.

Aura flaked off as it was turned to stone. The beast stomped shaking the ground. Its beak shot down ripping a hole in a stone roof. "Let this please you my lord Terminus. The stone faces the sky." There were no answers to the monster's prayers.

Steel was the weapon most effective against divine monsters. Even dragons feared the bite of a steel blade. Harry made his way out of the danger zone as the monster begged its god for answers. While the beast was distracted, he made his way out of the fog. At his luggage, he dug through his trunk and claimed a spear, two swords, unicorn stakes, and a war hammer.

Most weapons were stored in his bag of holding. His starting set was a Warhammer and ten stakes. The creature's physiology was a mystery to Harry. It might have hollow bones, it might have a nearly indestructible hide, or it might be a glass cannon. Harry knew it was metaphysically weak against steel and it could petrify through auditory attacks. He wouldn't know anything else unless he observed it.

For the next few days, he bought some live traps and captured a few neighborhood animals. Harry needed to observe the creature.

He wrapped himself in his invisibility cloak and tossed a captured racoon on the ground. Cockatrice smashed into the ground upon seeing the creature. It hissed loudly and the coon quickly turned to stone. Harry was able to observe the creature. It moved flapping its wings leaping from roof to roof. It was heavy but not too heavy. Like a specter of death, Harry floated observing the giant bird.

After watching it turn several creatures into stone Harry was beginning to get a handle on the process. As powerful as the creature was, it was predictable. He placed another living animal on the ground and flew high in the air to wait.

Within a nest made from petrified housing the monster emerged. It glared down at the rat in the cage. This was a mouse trap. The mouse in question was twenty meters long from beak to feathered serpentine tail. Its hind legs were raptor talons and its front were wings. Instead of scales it was downed in inky black feathers. The creature itself held a small amount of an unknown element. Harry was certain that one of those elements was divinity.

The mouse let out a terrible hiss and gobbled up the cheese. Harry fell with his hammer the guillotine's blade. Gravity took hold and he pushed himself accelerating faster than gravity.

With a glitter of steel his hammer struck. Harry felt the bones in both his arms snap just before he hit the ground. The ground shook and split when he hit. Harry flew out of the hole. His arms would take a few minutes to heal.

Just as he rose from the crater the monster opened its eyes. Harry flew away as it let out a pain filled shriek. Harry bolstered his aura to keep the petrifying effect at bay. Stone appeared around him and the Cockatrice locked on to him. The stone shattered as Harry moved. The beast opened its mouth and let out smog filled breath. Harry used his aura and felt at the stake.

Clumsily, he took it from its sleeve and launched it at the cockatrice. This was the first time he'd used his aura to lift things other than himself. The stake flew wide missing the monster. It charged like a mad turkey shrieking and flapping its wings. Harry's hammer was still lodged in the bird's skull.

Harry tossed another stake at the monster only for its flapping wings to steal the stakes speed and it dropped. His feet left the ground and he flew. The monster flapped and left the ground.

Feathers flew from the monster's wings it flew after Harry. Twelve orbs of sever all appeared cutting the feathers apart. The monster unleashed its breath of smog and Harry retreated. His sever all orbs shot forward and Harry lost connection.

The orbs fell back to earth the aura turned to stone. Three feathers flashed through the smog and cut into his sides. He was so focused on escape that his barrier suffered. Blood seeped from the wounds in his stomach. Harry didn't look down; he didn't want to know how badly he was hurt.

Aura blazed around him as he shot up like a shooting star. He stopped losing aura to petrification and his invisibility cloak hid him from the monster. Harry stopped healing his gut wound and his left arm. He devoted everything to heal his right arm.

Feather's cut through wind streams. Small twisters burst around the monster's beating wings. It flew around the mist swirling it and dispensing its smog breath.

Harry felt his right arm finish healing as he flew ever higher. His left arm popped back together as he ripped the barbed feathers from his gut. From his bag of holding he pulled free two thin longswords. He let himself fall upon the cockatrice again.

Once again, he picked up speed accelerating with gravity. He stabbed both swords into the monster's eyes. The monster's reflexes erupted, and talons flew up. They were sharp as obsidian blades.

He felt them slice through his barrier. Even as he pulled away, they ripped through his flesh. His guts were in ruins, his body spasmed as adrenaline shot through it, and they fell.

Harry punched the talon as they fell breaking it off. The monster's beak shot out snapping onto his shoulder. His collar bone shatter shards of bone ripped through his neck. Never was he more thankful for aura. It held him together even as his body broke. He yanked a sword out of the monster and stabbed it in the jaw. The monster opened its jaw and he knew he hadn't won yet. He was down to his last trump card.

Fire and light merged into nuclear destruction in his right hand. He placed a hand to the creature's breast. Harry felt his brain hemorrhaging from using power beyond his consciousness power. A beam of green plasma shot through the monster's breast. He smashed against the ground under the broken irradiated bird.

He couldn't move as blood from the cockatrice pooled into his wounds. The blood burned and he felt something spread through his body. It was a feeling of unlocking shackles. A weight insidiously placed on him from birth was lifted.

The mind of the cockatrice entered him through the blood. Harry attacked it. Harry crushed it with his qi and ripped at it. His consciousness grew and his body began the long road to recovery. Harry levitated himself and eased back to his feet.

He took a step and froze. Blood poured from his wounds before they closed again. Harry stopped moving his mouth hung open and he shook. His body felt like it was held together with duck tape and pleasant thoughts.. Now that he was closer to the monster's corpse, things made sense. The monster's feathers were each made from a lightweight material rigid in some ways like obsidian. He ran a finger over a feather and was cut. The wound bled and was slow to close. Most of Harry's aura was focused on getting him back to fighting shape.

"This body is a treasure trove. Leather capable of absorbing impact and feathers able to turn blades. You could make a terrifying head dress from this beast." Nomine said.

Harry turned and puked a fountain of blood. It would be a while before he was back at full power. He felt his collarbone snap back into place. Around 90% of his aura was busy repairing ruptured organs. Harry turned his head and noticed the fog.

"Something's wrong Nomine, the fog hasn't lifted." His ears twitched sending new agony through his aching head. They twitched again. "What's that noise? It sounds like thunder." His ear drums burst as the sound exploded. Blood pooled down his chin.

He lifted his head to see a golden eagle. It was larger than any he'd ever seen. With a flap of its wings a powerful gust of air shot Harry off his feet. The winds carried him into a nearby building. He saw Nomine take a bite from the cockatrice as he slumped down. Harry mused that he could count the number unbroken bones in his body with one hand. He raised his only unbroken finger, his middle one.

She transformed into a massive five headed hydra form. Feathers from the cockatrice decorated her body. She stood on massive raptor talons and each of the five heads had a vicious beak. They opened their maws and unleashed five different breath attacks. The golden eagle in the sky released what Harry could only describe as tribulation lightning. Great golden bolts crashed into Nomine ripping through her breath attacks and striking her.

Nomine shrieked and vanished. Harry could still sense her. She had transformed into something tiny. The eagle continued to buffet the ground and blast it with its lightning. Then it struck at the carcass of the cockatrice. The eagle began to devour the beast and Harry could feel the eagles power increase.

Petrified roofing fell on top of him as hurricane force winds shattered the houses. Harry remained hidden under the debris after the eagle had its fill and flew around striking the ground with lightning. It destroyed everything until only rubble remained.

Harry healed slowly under the collapsed housing. A week past his fight, he felt he could move again. That last attack had ripped through his barrier and crushed his bones. The healing was slow. Scars covered Harry's body. His bones had ripped through his flesh as had the sharp petrified debris stirred up by the eagle. There wasn't an inch of his body free of scaring.

"I'm sorry Harry, I was no match for him." Nomine said. She had freed him from the debris after the eagle left.

Harry made his way to the cockatrice's corpse. Most of it was ripped apart. There was enough hide left to make something. The major organs had been devoured. There was still something left. He decided to give it to Umbrella.

"Those creatures made from the gods are cannibalistic in nature. By consuming each other they can increase their personal power. Cockatrice had come here to because it sensed the blood of a star spawn. It came out of hibernation and destroyed the area in worship of its patron god and to feed." Nomine said.

"I understand," Harry said. He cut away the hide and reclaimed his long swords. His hammer was gone.

He took a trip to nocturn alley. No one bothered him. They looked at his face and looked away in pity.

He made his way through a dark alley only for a gang of tuffs to stop him. "Boy what are you doing walking down here alone. Are you some young lord?" Harry lowered his hood and looked the man in the eyes. The man turned his head and choked. He spat on the ground and took a stop back.

"Never mind, I'll let you go. We don't have a lot." The thug looked around to his fellows who nodded. "We wouldn't be out here if we were doing well. If you need a little money, we could give you a knut or two." The man said.

They let him through, and Harry made his way to a leather worker's guild. They promised to send his suit to him in Japan. If they didn't, he'd get them back for it somehow. Harry had thought about flying to Japan through his own power but changed his mind. On the way out from the alley, he picked up an illegal drought of the living death and its counter potion. After having it inspected it was determined to be real.

It wasn't hard to get a passport. Mortals didn't need to be stringed to be strung along. His consciousness was strong enough to bend will without a wand. A fallen star was in Japan. He'd investigate it soon.

Harry sat in his seat covered in bandages. From his head to his toes, he covered himself. He was ugly and didn't want to be seen. Nomine was good at wrapping the bandages and hiding his body.

Flying by plane was boring. He couldn't sleep so, he read David's demon summoning book. There was a booklet written by David full of translations. Through it, he slowly read the book.

Umbrella paid for the trip. He didn't know how they made money and didn't care. So long as the money came in Harry would leave them be.

He landed and made his way to a hotel. He'd made it and didn't speak a lick of Japanese. There were no leads about a fallen star, and he didn't know where to begin looking. Tokyo did have an interesting problem. Apparently, some monster existed that preyed upon humanity. They were called ghouls but were nothing like their harmless magical namesake. It seemed humanity had more predators than Harry had thought.

Harry found himself walking the streets at the late hours of the night. One-night saw someone leaping across the roof tops. She was around his age from what he could see and covered in bandages. He watched her leap from roof top to roof top with admirable grace. He watched her go then followed her from the ground.

He dashed through the streets quiet as a ghost and faster than a corvette. As the twists and turns abounded, he kept his eyes on her. She held a strength greater than a mortal but less than his own by far. He wanted to learn more about her.

Even with speed he couldn't match her with back alleys alone. Somehow, he lost her, she had done what many couldn't and left the edge of his sixth sense. He hadn't expanded it far, but she had gotten away before he could react.

Did Harry realize she was a ghoul? She might have been but there were more creatures under heaven and earth than stars in the sky.

The next night, he walked the alleys and came upon a woman with a black dog mask. She stared at him with fierce red eyes. She sniffed the air and turned on him. Wings stretched out from her back and shot crystals at him. Was this a hint about the fallen star? A fallen angel perhaps or a part of one. Harry didn't know and had nothing to go on.

He twisted out of the way of the attack. Harry made sure to just get out of the way. "Hey dog mask lady, are you trying to kill me or something?" Harry yelled. On the inside he was curious. She blasted another layer of spikes, but it seemed halfhearted. Harry made a show of leaping out of the way and just getting out of range before she fired.

"Maybe you should run kid you'll live longer that way." She said.

"Want to see something brilliant?" Harry asked. He stepped into the way of the crystals. The woman tried to withdraw her attack and even ran to stop it. Harry felt the crystals impact his barrier and shatter.

"I call it my barrier. Whenever something harmful would hit me, it appears and blocks it. What do you think?" Harry asked.

"Bow wow, what are you doing here kid?" The woman asked.

"I'm looking for this mo, girl. She's around my age, also wrapped in bandages." Harry said.

"It sounds like you're stalking her." The woman said with frown. She withdrew her wings much to Harry's disappointment.

"Yes, I'm stalking her for now. I do plan to introduce myself." The woman narrowed her eyes.

"Come on lady throw a dog a bone." Harry said. He smiled under his bandages. This was turning out to be a relaxing vacation.

"You're not one of my dogs, so no bones for you. You wouldn't like any I'd offer you anyway." She said.

"So, you're a ghoul." Harry said. She took up a defensive stance.

"I'm sorry there's nothing wrong with being a ghoul. Compared to my kind you're practically a saint. Don't ask it's just a PR bubble waiting to pop and start a war." Harry said.

"So, you aren't human either. You smell weird. There are others like you in this city. They were older and not friendly." Harry raised his hands.

"I'm sorry." Harry said.

"Is the girl you were stalking one of you." She asked.

"No, she is a ghoul. I saw her leaping from roof top to roof top. I want to get to know her." Harry said and continued. "I'm on vacation. A fling is just the thing I need to forget about my responsibilities." Harry said.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"I would sense it if she was like me. We can detect each other." Harry said.

"Is there anything you can do about the others like you. They've attacked some of my people." Harry thought about it for a moment. He could scare them a little. But this was a vacation." Harry let his shoulder's slump.

"I'm only eleven." She let out a sigh.

"I was hoping you were an overpowered dwarf." She said.

"I'll tell you what. I'll do what I can. I belong to a sect called Umbrella. We can shield you from our kind and take up a chapter here. There aren't a lot of us and not many will want to leave the main office. I'll have to pay them out of my own pocket. If I stick my neck out for you. Is there something you can do for me or the sect?" Harry asked.

"The Black Dobers run half of this ward. Do you have any human employees that need watching out for?" She asked.

"I'm just a private contractor. I'll have to ask one of the execs, but I'll get back to you. My name's Harry Potter. How will I get in contact with you?" Harry asked. Inside he was patting himself on the back. A private contractor described his position perfectly.

"Just come back here tomorrow night. I'll have someone escort you to me. She'll see you then run; no human will be able to keep up." She said.

Harry smiled and nodded. He turned and continued down the street looking for the girl in bandages.

"Kid are you lost." Harry turned around to see a man in an ape mask.

"King kong, I'm looking for a girl wrapped in bandages like me leaping from the roof tops." Harry said.

"It's the devil ape actually. You don't seem scared of me." Devil ape said.

"Are you another gang member trying to get a corporate sponsor?" Harry asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"Nothing, the last person to stop me ended up getting an offer out of me. Some bird wearing a dog mask." Harry said.

"Wait you do know humans will be executed for helping out ghouls, right?" He said. "What could they even offer a corporation?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You're one of those weird humans, aren't you?" Harry nodded and thrust his senses out. He felt her familiar presence at the barest edge of his senses. It was in a whole other ward.

"Well she's far from here now." Harry muttered.

"Is she one of your kind or a ghoul?" The man asked.

"She's a ghoul or an overpowered human cannibal. She's in another ward now." Harry said.

"Why are you after her?" He asked.

"She seems interesting and it's my vacation." Harry replied.

"Ok, let me give you some advice about lady ghouls. Don't approach her while she's eating and don't call her out on what she is. If you're going after her then be smart and bump into her while she's acting human." Harry nodded.

"Thank you for the advice. I'll recommend your gang to Umbrella. Don't expect much, I'm just a contractor." Harry said.

"You're also a kid what could you do for such a company." The man said.

"I'm paid a salary and I'm paid to travel. I couldn't tell you what I actually do." Harry said.

"That sounds like a fun job." There was an awkward silence. "I'll see you around or maybe not." The man said and leapt away.

He was back at the hotel and on the phone. "Alright, you want us to build a chapter in Japan. Getting the bodies into Britain is already difficult. We could transport a cutting, but we need a whole entity like the cockatrice to make it worth it. Otherwise we'll need hundreds of fresh humans." Claudia said.

"Alright, I can hunt another monster. There might be something here in Japan. I'll try to get it alive." Harry said.

"It's better for us to practice colonialism early anyway. We'll send some recruiters. Our numbers have greatly increased after David was deposed. We're ready to expand but no one wants to live in a desert. I'll send a barebones crew and we'll add a branch of Umbrella pharmaceuticals. We'll promise them the protection of your ghoul gang." Claudia said.

"Thank you, Claudia, you're an angel." Harry said.

"Don't compare me to those mindless drones Harry. Good bye." The line ended.

Harry put the phone down and stood up from the bed. The sun was starting to rise, he needed to locate, hunt down, and surprise attack a monster.

"Nomine do you know of any monsters in Japan." Harry asked.

"The country is full of them Harry. Take up your cloak lets fly." Harry let her wrap around his arm and climb up. He flew and let his sixth sense expand. He flew faster using his sixth sense to search. Then something pinged to his senses. It had a similar element as the cockatrice.

When he removed his hood, lightning flashed. From the blue-sky lightning blasted him. He fell hard to the ground.

"The gods of Japan are watching. They won't let us do as we please." Nomine said.

"Then we'll be sneakier." Harry said. He made his way on foot towards a sprawling village.

In the village he saw the people shy away from him. They whispered outsider under their breath and kept their distance. Each person had a tiny portion of divinity in their bodies. They drove and walked through the streets. Some worked in rice fields and drove tractors.

Harry felt his sense ping off another. He made his way to a tea shop and found the table with a boy of fourteen.

"Hey, I'm Richard but my friends call me a Dick." Harry raised an eyebrow at the read headed man.

"Sorry, mate I guess you can't see through the bandages. I'm Harry Potter, are you from the states?" Harry asked. He felt aura rise from Dick and push against his own.

"I'm from the states but I have family in the UK. That's where I picked up the forbidden knowledge. I prefer to call it the path. That's what all the cool kids call it." Dick said.

"What brings you to this tea shop?" The waitress quickly brought some tea. Harry could sense some divinity within the tea. It was much smaller than in the village residents. The waitress bowed and backed away.

"I heard about a town with very good tea. When you try it, you never want to leave." Dick said.

He poured a cup of tea and served Harry. Harry tossed the cut back and caught something sticky on his tongue. With a bit of aura, he sliced it apart.

"I'm not feeling it. This tea seems a bit average. Why don't you give it a try?" Harry suggested.

"Sure, I love earl grey." Richard picked up the cup and sent a current of aura through it. He downed the tea easily. "Hm this one is missing something." He opened the sugar bowl. It was filled to the brim with spider eggs under an illusion. Dick tossed it against a wall. "This isn't sugar at all."

"Sir, calm down and let me explain." One of the waitresses said. Harry saw through the illusion and saw a few extra eyes on her forehead.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead explain." Harry said.

"This should be good." Dick said.

"Well you see, you should both die." The waitress said and curtsied.

One of the waitresses ran out meat clever in hand. Harry thrust and touched the girl's creamy soft skin. A burst of aura traveled through her body and there was no girl left inside. It was mostly spider at this point. Harry punched forward splattering the corpse.

"Interesting, is that late stage contamination." One of the girls erupted with a spider body. It leapt through the air fangs bared. Harry stabbed through the brain stem and sliced off the other's head.

He sensed an aura covered bullet pass through the air and into a spider leaping midair. "I see you haven't begun lining your weapons with aura. Here watch me." Dick said.

Slowly, Richard charged his gun with aura and fired it through a window. Aura traveled with the bullet piercing through a spider possessed human. Seeing it once was enough. Green aura cover his sword and he felt a connection form with it.

He cut through the possessed as more poured into the café. Bodies piled on the floor soaking their shoes in sticky blood. Gore slowed them down as the bodies covered the floor.

"Welcome Harry Potter to Wily Wonka and the Blood factory." Harry rolled his eyes and stabbed another woman crawling on the ceiling. He twisted the blade and sliced a final time bisecting the monster.

Blood soaked them from head to toe, dripped from the ceiling, and covered the windows. The bodies of the villagers were piled in a corner like firewood.

"Alright they're retreating we have some breathing room." Harry said.

I'm after their queen, I need it for my sect. Do you have any objections or are we going to fight for it?" Dick raised his gun at Harry and smiled.

The windows burst open and spiders crawled in endless like a swarm. Dick and Harry turned up their auras. Spiraling columns of red and green appeared around them as they prepared to duke it out. The spiders were ripped apart as their auras clashed.

"You're out of luck Harry. I'm built for killing my fellow man." Harry pulled his wand free as he positioned himself for a fight. Harry dodged before the pistol fired. Aura charged rounds shattered the walls behind him as he brought his sword point up. He leapt off the ground as more of the building was ripped apart.

Twelve orbs of sever all shot out. Twelve rounds shattered the orbs while Harry crossed the distance. "Still using refinery attacks. How did you make it to foundry?" Harry stabbed and Dick parried, Harry moved out of the path of each round. A single round could rip through his barrier. Harry leapt up shattering the housing above.

"That's your second mistake Harry. Between us I'm the long range." Harry pointed his wand at the café and unleashed fire. The flames struck the ground scorched the café into ash and burned away the spiders around the area.

Rounds shot out of the flame like red demons. Harry dodged them unleashing more flames setting fire to other buildings. Dick shot up out of the flames firing up at him. Harry moved out of the way but dared not fly higher. He put his cloak on and turned invisible.

Harry left Dick to search for him and headed into the mine near the town. In his cloak he bypassed the spider guards. He flew through the nest under the cocooned forms of countless victims.

He found the spider queen. She was a massive beast with a giantess upper body and a massive lower spider body. Harry pulled from his robes a powerful potion. He purchased it on his trip into nocturn alley.

Harry grabbed her mouth and poured the potion down her throat before she could react. She thrashed around for a few seconds before collapsing. Drought of the living death had done its job. Now how was he going to get her out of here and to Tokyo.


	22. Chapter 22

**Edited 05/06/2020**

There weren't a lot of options. Harry tugged at the body. It weighed about as much as an elephant. He could move it. It rolled over and stopped on its side.

"I need a tractor trailer to get it out." Harry rubbed at his face as he thought of a solution. Well he had it in a near death state. It wasn't going anywhere. He could have umbrella do the transportation.

The sound of gunshots rang out through the mine. Harry was running out of time. Spiders retreated pouring into the queen's chamber. They wasted no time going on the attack.

Green aura covered his sword as he began cutting through the horde. Wand in hand he began levitating the corpses in front of the entrance. Harry sheared away a trench of rock leading down a mine shaft. The fighting continued as Harry began burning his way through the rock. Molten rock slid off the walls carried away by the ditch. The heat quickly increased burning up the weaker spider guards.

Harry sent an excavation curse up to make a hole for heat to escape. Meters of rock melted before his power giving way and forming a tunnel. Harry thrust his hand out forming ice around the queen. With the queen protected he stopped holding back.

Aura exploded around him as he moved like an erupting volcano. Tons of rock melted away as he dug out a slope wide enough for a big rig to back down.

"Did you really think you'd burn an exit before I finished off the horde?" Dick asked.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Harry grumbled.

"What does this sect have on you? I don't believe they deserve your loyalty." Dick demanded.

"This will help all qi experts who call the sect home. It will ensure more foundry experts emerge." Harry said.

"That just increases competition. Who'd want more of us? It's better to be just a handful." Dick said.

"We'll stall out in foundry that way. This stage is just temporary. Core will come to those who master their aura, and then system experts will emerge. To rise we must fight, or we'll become complacent. We must battle the gods to earn our place in this world. That is what I believe." Harry said with manic eyes. This was the corner stone of everything the ultimate lesson from the stories. It was in the history of the world.

"That's easy for you to say. There will always be more losers than winners. People will grow bitter with their weakness. They'll blame us for their incompetence and the sects will be targeted. I was never a good student until, I reached refinery. Its written in the history of the world." Richard said, he pulled his firearm free and pointed it at Harry.

A crimson aura covered the gun as they prepared for a duel. Harry left his wand behind and put both hands on his long sword. Aura bathed the blade like flames. He had to invest twenty percent of his aura into his blade any less and he couldn't pierce his opponent's barrier and any more the blade would shatter.

His opponent was more controlled, he needed less aura for similar power. Harry's output was perhaps twenty times Dick's, but his control was less. He had more aura than he could hone, and he wasted it.

The bullet was in his midst and he swung by reflex. With the flat of his blade he turned the bullet and shot forward. His aura saturated body could move with inhuman speeds. Through refinery he gained the physical strength of ten horses and with foundry that strength was fueled by aura. As powerful as he was his opponent was equally fast. He moved keeping his distance and firing off rounds. Red flashes of aura appeared in his sixth sense only to be parried.

Dick jumped over him firing down. Harry twisted to the side. Bullets grazed him ripping holes through his barrier. He couldn't get hit. Harry threw a stake. Richard's image blurred beside the stake. He changed his clip.

Harry was on him. Sword stabbing forward he felt it graze Dick's barrier. The new clip slammed home, a bullet fired ripping through Harry's barrier. He felt blinding pain as his sword pierced flesh. Another shot rang out. Harry moved his head to the side. He still felt the heat of the bullet graze his head.

His sword pierced through Dick's chest. He turned it and missed the heart. Richard fell to his knees. The thin blade of Harry's long sword had slipped between Dick's ribs and pierced a lung. For them it wasn't a deadly wound. They had little need for lungs mechanically.

"You should have killed me." He aimed his gun and Harry withdrew his sword and sliced through it. The barrel of the gun fell, the bullet had fired and flattened on Harry's barrier, and Harry sheathed his sword.

"When we're wounded our aura, control suffers. You haven't been wounded often have you?" Harry said.

"It hurts, I'll get you back for this. I'll master my aura and reach core before you. Then I'll destroy your sect." His face was red, and blood covered his chest.

"Put pressure on the wound or you won't live to do anything." A smile spread across his face under the bandages. Harry stumbled and fell. His left arm hung limply. Red aura spread across the wound. The wound smelled like it was festering.

"You really are a dick." Harry said.

"I know that's my name." Richard said.

Harry took a medical knife from his bag of holding. He cut open the wound and screamed. The nerves were more delicate than ever. Puss poured from the wound yellow and with the smell of death.

"I didn't know bullets would be so effective against us." Harry said.

"It's the lead. Metals are imperfect storage devices. They leak stored aura over time. It acts as a poison in wounds." Richard let out a pained whistle. "It looks like that round it stuck in the bone." Richard said with a chuckle.

Harry stabbed into himself with forceps and gripped the bullet. He screamed and pulled. With a pop the bullet was freed. It wasn't even the most painful wound he'd experienced. Fresh blood poured from the wound as the injury began to close. The flesh knit itself together leaving behind another ugly scar. With the wrapping of his bandages the scar was hidden from the world.

"I've never seen one of us heal like that. Does it have something to do with your Path?" Richard asked.

"I started with the Dao of severing and have taken many paths since then. Severing isn't my only Dao just as reincarnation isn't yours. Guns, hunting, and detection are a few of yours." Harry said.

"No two Daos are alike. Time and history separate our experiences until the paths hardly resemble one another. Does your path now even resemble the one you started on?" Dick asked.

Harry watched Richard climb to his feet. He looked over to the giant spider woman surrounded by ice. "You can have this one. We'll meet again."

"Maybe next time we'll join forces instead of fighting each other." Harry cheerfully added.

"I doubt it. Screw you Harry, there is karma between us now." Dick said tiredly. He approached the entrance then paused. "Harry watch out for a foundry expert named Vincent House. He's better at this than me. He can do things with aura that makes us look like cavemen. If you come to odds with him don't fight run. He'll kill you." Richard said.

"You aren't such a bad bloke Richard. You're just a dick sometimes." Harry said.

"Shut up Harry and watch your back. When the losers gain power, they have a habit of ganging up and killing the winners." Richard said.

"The world is full of more than winners and losers." Harry yelled as the teen entered the dark tunnel.

"Believe what you want." Dick yelled back.

Harry waited until Dick left the edge of his senses and unleashed his flames. Molten rock filled the old mine shaft as he slowly made his way to the surface. When he was sure it was sloped enough for a truck to drive through, he pulled a phone from his bag of holding.

Twelve hours later he saw a familiar face. Carl held a serious expression on his face when he saw Harry. "It cost the company quite a penny to bring the equipment you requested. Can I see the beast?" He asked. Harry waved a hand for Carl to follow him.

"The air is stale down here. We have a team of fours to drag the sacrifice out. They won't do well in low oxygen." Carl said. Harry took out his wand and used the oxygen summoning charm.

"The air's breathable, what did you do?" Carl asked.

"Foundry has many powers that may be considered unconventional." Harry replied.

The team arrived and began surveying the long tunnel to load the spider queen. Sect employees were hard at work cutting down trees and putting down gravel for the truck. They looked at Harry on occasion before turning away.

"They're afraid of you Harry. You feel like a six but you're clearly not. Even Rose isn't at your level. What are you doing working with us instead of ruling us?" Carl asked.

The man was sweating buckets just standing near Harry. His face was pale as a ghost. This wasn't the confident recruiter Harry remembered.

"It's easier to have someone who likes to manage people to manage your sect. I'm just a private contractor. I can break ties with your sect at any time." Harry said.

The sound of winch cranks filled the air as the spider queen's body was dragged out of the tunnel. She was quickly loaded on the truck. Harry let it go. It hadn't cost him much to take the queen down. This part of the agenda was over. He'd spend the rest of the summer with his fling and work on his aura control at school. That was what he planned.

He rode alongside Carl in the Big rig. The countryside passed them by while the fours followed behind in a convoy. Harry rested his hand on his hand and sighed.

"You could have returned on your own if you're bored." Carl said.

"I didn't know you had a class D license or is there an equivalent here in Japan." Harry said.

"Fine, we'll talk. I read the manual. The doctors under our payroll say that our minds aren't the same as mortals. The foreign substance in our bodies rests parts of our minds periodically. That's why we can stay up forever with no reproductions, after the second stage. They've coined it substance X." Harry raised a brow. "I'm watching the road, and you're covered in bandages." Carl reminded him.

"Substance X, I like it, but qi fits just as well. What are we going to do if we're stopped?" Harry asked.

"Look under your seat." Carl suggested.

Harry reached under and pulled a suitcase full of money out. "You're going to bribe them." Harry said.

"If that doesn't work, we'll use another solution." Harry looked behind them. They were transporting a massive trailer full of spider. She was disguised but too much looking would expose them.

"Where's the cutting?" Harry asked.

"It's being integrated. It should be ready for us when we get there." Carl said. "Bloody hell," Carl yelled as blue lights appeared behind them. He slowed to a stop.

Carl sucked in a breath. "Don't go killing him unless I give you the signal. We need to be inconspicuous. A dead cop isn't that. If he dies more will come. They may send ghoul investigators. Do you understand?" Carl said.

A lady cop exited her vehicle and approached the door. Carl rolled down the window and smiled.

"Evening officer what can I do for you?" Carl said in very British Japanese. Harry's translation spell still worked well enough.

"Sir step out of the truck and open the back. We have reason to believe you brought contraband into the country." She said.

"Officer, mam, lady cop there must be some mistake. I'm just a bloke with a job to do. I'm transporting Irish gold to Tokyo. Spuds can't be contraband." Carl said.

"My name is Officer Ao and you were reported of breaking the law. I want to see your green card." She demanded.

Harry sighed. "Would fifty thousand yen change your mind?" Harry asked.

Her beautiful face glared down at them. "Disgusting foreigner you dishonor yourself and worse you dishonor me with your words." Aoi said.

"How does a hundred-thousand-yen sound?" Harry asked.

"Out of the truck now. Prostrate yourself to be bound." Aoi said.

"Bloody damn it, Harry, I told you to let me handle it." Carl looked down at Aoi with an apologetic look. He raised his hands and opened the door to the truck. With his hands up he slipped out of the truck. The second she approached the cuff him he snatched her up by the neck.

"To be fair another fifty thousand might have done it." Harry said.

"No, now what are we going to do about her squad car?" Carl asked.

"I'll take care of it." Harry assured.

"What do you plan to do Harry?" Carl asked.

Harry turned his head towards a lake. It looked deep enough for a squad car or twelve. "That should do the job." Harry walked over to the car.

"The tracks will reveal what happened." Carl said. Aoi kicked her feet and pounded on Carl's arm.

"You could always keep her. Just bind her with her own handcuffs and toss her in the back cab." Harry suggested. The convoy had stopped while Harry approached the car.

He bent his knees and pushed the car up on two wheels. Once it was on two wheels, he found the frame and picked it up fully by it. Harry heaved mightily throwing the car high in the air. It sailed through the air for ten seconds as it crossed the distance to the middle of the lake. With a massive splash the car sunk to the bottom.

Harry dusted off his hands and walked back to the car. Aoi was in handcuffs stunned speechless. "Ghouls, you're all ghouls and you're transporting something into Tokyo. What is your plan? Monsters, what is your plan?"

"No, we aren't ghouls. We are the Umbrella organization. There are many powers that umbrella possesses that some find controversial in the business world." Harry said.

"Umbrella is fiction, you're the villains in a video game." Aoi said.

"That's the best kind of PR Carl. The whole world thinks we don't exist." Carl tossed Aoi into the back cab. Harry took his seat back and they got back on the road.

"What do you plan to do with me? Am I going to become an experiment for viruses?" Aoi asked.

"Oh, so that's what Umbrella does. Neat, is there any money in that?" Harry asked.

"It's not economically possible for us right now. Our executive board hasn't filed any surveys about future aspirations. If anyone knew, I thought it would be you Harry." Carl said.

"We aren't that Umbrella. Harry was just messing with you. Our founder was a fan of the fictional company and named us after them. As for what we're here to do, we're transporting a revolutionary device that produces near infinite free energy. This is an experiment to see if the power output is up to the predictions." Carl said.

"Then why didn't you just give me your green card?" Aoi said.

"I had one, but Harry bribed you before I could take it out." Carl said.

"Don't worry you're going to be Carl's wife now. When did you graduate officer school?" Harry asked.

"You won't get away with this." Aoi said.

"No, we will definitely get away with kidnapping you. We've left your squad car behind with no trace of what happened to it." Harry said.

"We called in some favors to get into Tokyo proper. That isn't an issue. We could leave you out here in the middle of nowhere. Our plans will be complete long before you can tell anyone." Carl said.

"No, it's too late for that. You could string her and make her a servant of the sect. She's pretty enough we could use her as a model to tempt new members. Or you could pimp her out for another string of income." Harry suggested.

"Harry mate no offense but if there is evil in this world then it's you." Harry shrugged. "I don't know when it happened, but you stopped thinking of humans as anything but mortals or puppets. You were human just like anyone else."

"I'm stronger than you, doesn't that make me right?" Harry asked.

"No Harry, that just makes you strong. No matter how strong you are two and two will be four." Carl said waving his fingers.

Carl was misunderstanding him. How could he make the man see? "Might controls everything without it you can't defend your position. Your words are meaningless no matter how true they are unless there is force behind it." Harry said. He let out a sigh and turned his head to the back cab. The Japanese woman stared in confusion. That's right they were speaking in English. A weakness in the translation spell. He should learn Japanese when he had the time.

"I don't want to be alone Carl. There was a choice. I could have gone back to being a weak mortal child or take power. I don't need two and two to make any other number than four. If I'm proven wrong, then I'll learn. Tell me Carl, why should I empathize with mortals?" Harry asked.

"Because you love them." Carl said. "There are rumors that you are chasing a mortal ghoul. You could have taken her and done whatever you wanted. Instead, you decided to work with a mortal gang to find her again." Carl finished.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Harry said. He chuckled to himself. "I think your projecting my friend. I'm shallower than you think. I want to meet the girl and I want to know her. If that police girl of yours was a threat, she would have joined her car in the lake." Harry said.

"You're lying and you know it." Harry shook his head and turned away. A smile stretched across his face. It wasn't for Carl to see. The world was changing.

They arrived at the new building. It was an older skyscraper scheduled for demolition before it was purchased. The giant spider woman was fed to a small spec of red creeping demonic taint. It quickly devoured the body growing larger and spreading to the building.

Harry felt it before the eruption. Essence of humanity deeper than he'd ever felt spewed forth from the building. The monstrous demon extended up the walls. A flesh membrane soon covered the higher floors. Green sacs expanded around the covered spider.

He cut his absorption before he left. This place wasn't good for his control.

"Where are you going Harry?" Carl asked.

"I'm done, I've finished my end of the deal. You're the regional manager get to work. I have a girl to meet." Harry said.

"Aren't you going to enjoy the power?" Harry shook his head.

"This place is useless for me." Harry said.

Author's Note: Hey thank you for reading so far. Leave a favorite tell me what you think. For the next few chapters i'm going to try at romance. Algori tree may join the Umbrella corporation and ghouls might become cultivators as well. The fallen angel prophecy will come back.


	23. Chapter 23

**Edited 05/06/2020**

Harry opened the door to a public library. He passed through slowly taking in the interior. Dust had collected upon old tomes of forgotten authors. Old benches and hardwood tables made up the sitting area. Beside the door a proud sign claimed the building was over sixty years old. There was no librarian and the doors were unlocked. Anyone could break in and steal whatever they wanted but what was there to steal. Old hardwood tables too big to fit in anyone's home weren't ideal. There were still books but who'd steal them from a library.

Everything was in another language. The words were written from right to left and foreign to his mind. Even his spark lacked reference. Gondor had little interest in learning Chinese, Korean, or Japanese. Still, Harry found himself rifling through books to view their illustrations. Never more than now did he resemble his true age of a child and a mortal.

From page to page Harry flipped through the books. Harry found a table in the back and sat down. He was waiting for someone to enter. This place was a haunt of his target.

Harry saw himself reflected in a window and found himself wondering when it would crack. Could that be considered a power? That's why he wore bandages wasn't it? It was so people didn't vomit at the sight of him. Oh, how great and terrible he was when none could stare directly at him without falling ill. Truly he was the living embodiment of Nurgle's rot. Harry rolled his eyes at his own cynicism.

It was better for everyone that he looked like a mummy. Some of his bones hadn't healed right leaving his skull misshapen. A green glow surrounded him spinning and growing before he calmed himself down. The pages from the book he'd grabbed were ripped free and covered the windows. Harry sighed and pulled out his wand. The book was back to normal and returned to the shelf. His emotions were messing with his aura control.

The presence entered his range. Harry pulled an English to Japanese dictionary from his bag of holding and found a table. With the book in hand he slowly went to work learning the phonetic squiggles that pronounced kanji. It's not like he had anyone to speak Japanese with here in Japan of all places.

She drew closer as he focused on his project. He felt like he made some progress when she walked in. His breath caught in his chest when he saw her. She was young maybe twelve with low cut mint green hair. Her eyes were a green that rivaled his own and she moved with grace found only in human dancers. His weak human eyes were barely able to pick up what his superior sixth sense detected. His brain catalogued her every movement and saved it to his spark for all time.

She paid him no mind. The mint haired girl found a book in horror and found her own seat far from him. His heart began to pound, and his aura picked up. It was foolishness and he knew it. Harry cursed his own wants as his sixth sense stretched out to her. He had to fight to keep from glowing. Instead of going to meet her he worked on his own task. She was busy taking notes and Harry didn't want to disturb her. This felt like courting a dangerous predator. He needed her to get used to him first before making any changes.

"Are you a cosplayer of some kind?" She asked him. He paused his mind half distracted by his studies. He turned to see one of her mint green eyebrows raised.

"No, I was in an accident. It's easier to stand out by choice rather than by fate." A small light appeared in her eyes. Was it interest? He kept his senses from her. Harry wanted to find out himself. He wanted to use his weak mortal senses to determine her opinion.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. How impolite of me. Was it a ghoul?" She asked, the light of curiosity burned in her eyes. She tapped a pin against her note pad.

"Nothing so interesting. I was caught in a storm, took shelter in a building, and it nearly became my tomb. Metal, concrete, and glass buried me; the rescue team barely reached me in time." Harry said.

"Oh, perhaps I shouldn't have asked. It was too personal. What brings you to Japan?" Harry picked through several lies he could tell.

"I'm looking for a fallen angel." Harry said. She burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect that. Are you a Christian?" She asked.

"No," Harry replied.

"What brings you to the library? Are you working on a school assignment?" Harry said.

"No, I'm an aspiring author. Does this library hold some clue about your fallen angel?" She asked.

I've found the clue already. The fallen angel has already been dispersed. Its power has fragmented. That sounds insane doesn't it." She smiled and nodded.

"I think you're crazy. How old are you?" She asked.

"I'm eleven, I'll be twelve on the last day of July." Harry said.

"Where are your parents, did they leave you here while they went sightseeing?" She asked. She turned her head.

"No, they died a long time ago. I came here for the summer." She frowned as if she found something distasteful.

"You don't seem broken up about it." She said.

"I haven't thought about them in a long time. What about you? Do your parents know you're here?" Harry asked.

"No, my father gave me up after my mother died. I don't have a memory of them. Even my caretaker has died." She said. An uncomfortable silence fell between them. She continued writing as he looked her over with his weak mortal eyes.

"You're easy to talk to, my name is Harry Potter." Harry said.

"Sen Takatsuki, Potter you have a very overactive imagination. Are you rich?" Sen asked.

"No, I'm a shareholder in a powerful corporation. They cover my food, travel, and living expenses." She raised an eyebrow.

"A simple yes would have sufficed." Takatsuki said.

"I'll try to remember that Sen." Harry said. A glare spread across her face like she would slap him at any moment.

"That's improper Harry. You should call me Takatsuki until I give you permission to call me Sen. You speak Japanese well enough; you should know basic etiquette." Takatsuki said.

"Sorry, I'm wearing an implant that translates it for me. To me you're speaking perfect English." Harry said.

"An implant," she took down a note. From what Harry could tell she had a page with his name written down. Sen was taking notes on him. Harry found it endearing.

"Am I that interesting?" Harry asked.

"I thought you were illiterate in Japanese." Takatsuki said.

"I am very illiterate. But I've studied enough here to know how to sound out my name. I have no idea about the rest." Harry said.

"It seems you truly are illiterate. I don't have time to teach you how to read. I only have a few hours to take notes. Can't your corporation find you a tutor?" She asked annoyed.

"They could pay you to do it." She frowned.

"I'm not patient. Is the implant real or was it a lie?" Takatsuki asked.

"Its real enough to work. Why?" Harry asked.

"I want you to turn it off and learn for yourself. That's the only way to really learn. I'll stick around to help." She said with a smile. There was something hidden behind her eyes. She was a ghoul after all maybe she thought of him as a potential meal. Nomine was quiet now only observing him. Perhaps she gained some amusement from his floundering.

"It isn't a technological implant. It's more like self-hypnosis. Once its off its off and the mind can't be tricked I that way again. You're also a stranger why should I trust you not to abandon me." Something flickered in her green eyes. He saw a twitch on her lips and a slight dilation of her right eye.

"Trust me, and you'll learn my language." Sen said. He'd need to go all the way back to the airport and ask a Japanese wizard to recast the spell. Harry could learn at insane speeds when needed. He'd use his spark to catalogue everything. That was one advantage of a spark the vast potential to store and access data.

Harry nodded his head and blinked. He crushed the spell with his superior consciousness power. Just like that her words became alien to him. She offered her hand and despite his better judgement he took it.

She spoke slowly and then had him repeat her words. Each time he added her words to his data base. "Do you understand?" She asked him like he was a child. There was odd humor in her eyes and sadness. He might have been looking into things that weren't there. His eyes were mortal and unreliable.

"Yes." Harry replied after another line from her. She kept staring at him as she gripped his hand. She continued to grip it and frown.

"Strange, you aren't, unknown, so alien and familiar. What are you?" Takatsuki asked. Her eyes were inspecting his every detail. Did she through his mortal body and into the flow of aura? He knew he was crazy for thinking such nonsense. She might have been a ghoul, but she couldn't peer into his aura.

"I'm human." He replied.

"Yes," she replied. In her voice was all the doubt but the questions never came. Not that he could understand them anyway.

He heard her stomach rumble but said nothing. "Hunger is universal." She said. Harry nodded. His feed had changed from calories, protein, and fat to essence in all its forms. When he didn't consume a blood stone for a while, he wanted one. His refinery only felt full when he consumed a vast supply of essence. Satisfying that hunger was annoyingly pleasurable. He couldn't get that satisfaction through standard cultivation.

They parted ways as the sunset. Her stomach continued to growl. He heard it still just before they parted ways. Harry made his way back to his hotel.

He opened the door to see Dick in the living room. On the TV was a sex video with blurred out genitals. Dick's gun was in pieces. He was slowly oiling them. Harry sat across from the teen and waited.

"You're practicing colonialism and using the Umbrella corporation as your proxy." Harry didn't say anything. He sat down and pulled out his English to Japanese dictionary. The words came to him quickly as he added to his vocabulary. "Answer me Harry." Richard said.

"Dick, do you have a problem with colonialism?" Harry asked with a sigh. Of course, self-righteous isolationist Dick would have a problem.

"You're damn right I do. I thought you wanted more piers not more of the same." Dick accused.

"I'm confused, what's the problem? You didn't want to over saturate the world with cultivators. Now you want a chaotic and bloody beginning. What do you think a sect does?" Harry asked. Harry mentally added idiot to his descriptor of Dick. They had a war coming infighting while they had a common enemy would be stupid.

"They are a group unified by a belief or common interest. If Umbrella had a common interest its consolidating power. You're no different than Vincent." Dick accused. The moans from the porn were growing louder. The woman started pissing from being pounded by the man. Harry was deeply confused and a little interested. Dick was using this as a distraction, so Harry would make mistakes.

"I'd be disturbed if Umbrella wasn't consolidating power. Soon they'll have foundry qi experts to hunt down monsters and they'll spread to multiple locations." Harry said. They'll bite off more than they can chew and boom the war begins. They were just who Harry thought they were.

"Five from that building died already while you were playing mortal. They failed to light their foundry and their qi violently tore them apart. Umbrella fed them to the cancer covering the building. I've been watching them. I think I'm going to build my own organization. Except, I'm going to do it right." Dick said.

"I wonder how many need to die before they figure out foundry." Harry said.

"You don't care about them." Dick accused.

"The weak and unfit should die. Making the leap is only a matter of control. Tell me, how do you build a sect?" Harry asked.

"Its obvious the leadership should be first. I will select them among the strongest and smartest refinery qi experts. I'll uplift them into foundry myself to make them loyal. From there we will recruit the lower levels filling the ranks with refinery qi experts. We'll choose scientists, soldiers, and public leaders. As the sect master, I'll lead my own people safely through the new age." Richard said.

Harry thought the guy was counting his chickens before they hatched. Harry had completed his goal. He set qi experts against the gods with a need to harvest their bodies. It will be easier for muggles to reach foundry than ever. He had a few goals left before he could focus solely on himself.

"I'd like to commission your sect to the creation of power armor. I'll go ahead and invest now." Harry said. He reached into his bag of holding and pulled out five bags of blood stones. In all they were enough to bring three cultivators to foundry. If used sparingly perhaps ten might reach foundry with them.

"We aren't going to begin under the thumb of Umbrella." Richard yelled.

"I don't expect you to. This is an investment. I'm buying into your sect for the purpose of acquiring power armor and advanced weaponry. You want to build a group of elites you'll need resources to get started. You can't invite the president to join you in a cardboard box." Harry said. "I'll be a silent partner." Harry said. He wasn't sure if Richard was dumb enough to agree.

Richard picked up each bag sealing the strings of karma. "Advanced weaponry and power armor, I'll see what I can do. You know it could be decades before you see anything." Harry shrugged.

"It's an investment, I have decades to spare. Do we have a deal?" Harry said and raised his hand. Richard stared at Harry's hand for a long moment before grasping it slowly. They returned to their seats as another porno played. A Japanese man dressed up as a tentacle monster began having his way with schoolgirls.

"You know the ghouls are going to become cultivators too." Richard said.

"I know, I'm not giving them the secrets to cultivation, until we have a council of core experts. A system expert or twelve would be ideal." Harry said.

"What happened to friendly competition?" Dick asked. Harry looked at Richard as if he were special. "It would take a very special ghoul to convince me to teach them." Harry said.

"They're going to learn it sooner or later. The towers are nearly worthless to them. They'll have to cultivate the old fashion way. Unless they eat a powerful cultivator." Harry said.

"Are the towers built for pure humans?" Dick asked. Harry nodded his head.

"We need a swift way out of the foundry stage. I've cut down on my refinery to increase my mastery of aura but it's still slow. I'm at least two years away from core. I've deviated from the orthodoxy." Harry stared at Dick. "That's what their calling the original cultivation texts now. It keeps changing. The council of states continues to argue. Techniques are floating around forums, but no one has developed a fast track." Dick said.

"I don't think a ghoul in the refinery stage would be a match for us in the foundry stage. Not if we develop a dark essence technique." Harry said.

"You mean that stuff that flows naturally during the new moon?" Richard asked. "I've seen what happens when refinery experts try it. The tumorous blobs they become aren't pretty." Dick said.

Harry focused on the dark that naturally existed within him. It originated in the bicorn, but it had since integrated with Harry. He touched a slight amount of it and infused it through his body. It was a small amount, but he felt his strength increase dramatically. Harry opened his eyes and stood up. His muscles bulged and aura raged around his body barely restrained. He felt unprecedented power flow through his muscles. The dark fed from his aura and boosted his physical strength.

The aura was Harry. It was essence refined into Harry Potter and magnified through a lens. This was the quietest dark Harry had ever felt. That was the scariest part about it. It didn't want to become a million different things it was himself filled with power. It repaired the damage from the nuclear light instead of purity spiral. Harry felt better than he'd ever felt. He was sure of himself of everything he'd ever done or said. This was his power and together they were perfect in every way.

He pulled away from the dark and sent it back. It reached for him struggling to hold on as Harry cast it back into his recesses. It would take time to adjust to that power. That time would be Hogwarts.

"Are you alright Harry?" Dick asked. Harry felt weaker, frail, and empty without the darkness. The light took over repairs once more making Harry feel damaged. His cells were screaming for the darkness back, his body wanted to be balanced again. Ever since he ate that fruit, he'd been full of nuclear light. The dark was a natural counterbalance. It also messed with his head.

"Sorry, the dark isn't a problem for us physically. There are mental issues that come with it. It's addictive, I'm sure you can handle it." Harry said. That completeness was beyond anything he'd ever felt. It had to be a trap nothing that felt that good came without strings attached. He wanted to feel that again.

"No, I think I'll wait until a proper technique arrives on the forum. I have no idea how you summoned the darkness." Yes, Harry knew his power was unorthodox, but Dick was hardly one of the orthodoxies.

"If I wrote a book documenting the darkness could I post it to this forum?" Harry asked.

"You'd have to get a username and show that your skills are competent. If you post it to the theory section, I'm sure you'll have a few test out your research." What would he gain from that?

"I'll look into it. Why are you here?" That was the question he hadn't asked before. What was the point of coming to his hotel room? This wasn't a social call.

"I couldn't decide whether I was going to kill you or not. Divine beasts are hard to find. I decided to forgive you just this once. After all you aren't going to go against me now that you've invested in me." Dick said. He walked behind the bed and picked M60 out from under the bed. His weakness to gunfire needed to be dealt with.

He could have touched darkness and decapitated Richard where he stood. Harry felt it was better to let him live and see the new world. It was better to turn this man's sect into a client of Umbrella. Harry held off taking Dick's life to enjoy what the future would hold.

Perhaps electromagnetism held some potential. Dick pulled out a pack of camels from his jacket and lit one. "Those things will kill you." Harry said.

"We're immortal or at least long lived I'll be fine." Dick said.

"Get the bloody hell out of my room." Harry said.

"Let me finish my cig, I'll be out in a minute." Dick argued. Harry flicked his finger burning through the tobacco. Dick pulled the yellow filter from his mouth. "Spoil sport, fine, I'm gone you should come visit me in America. We'll go on another hunt, I'll let you gift me the kill." Dick said. Harry shook his head as Richard gathered up his stuff and tucking the M60 under his arm. He opened the door to the balcony. It was unlocked clueing Harry in on how his friend entered unannounced.

"Goodbye Dick, I'll keep in touch." Harry mumbled. As much as Dick annoyed him it was good to talk to another young foundry expert. He'd never tell Dick that.

"Yea bye Harry, it's been fun despite the rocky start." Richard left in a flash of red crossing out of Harry's senses in an instant.

He followed a specific form through the back alleys of the 20th ward. He floated a little off the ground and glided through the alleys in search of his friend in the black dog mask. Harry had learned a lot from the English to Japanese book but there was something about putting data to good use that was satisfying. There was little other satisfaction other than research, forging, or getting to know people in the world.

"What are you doing out late at night little boy?" A large ghoul with a waxed mustache asked. The man's eyes were kagugan already his chin was covered in drool.

"I'm a member of Umbrella we are protected by the Black Dobbers. If you attack me, they will destroy you. This is their territory." As much fun as he might have destroying this man, it was better to let locals handle local problems. He had faith in the system.

"Mmm… young and stupid, no one is afraid of a few girls in dog masks. Maybe if it was the devil apes." The ghoul said as he walked closer.

"They handle security detail in their area. This is the black Dobbers side." Harry responded.

"Too bad for you then." A koukaku burst from the man's mid back and traveled down his arm. Harry found the RC sac within the ghoul with his sixth sense. Of course, he was going to get blood all over his bandages when he didn't have a spare roll on him. He'd have to dig in his bag of holding and hope for a roll. He could unwrap his arm afterward and hope for a pharmacy to be open.

"Bow wow, the leader of the black Dobers appeared." She rushed down ukaku out and showered the rogue with shards. He managed to block the initial attack. He stepped back and took on the defensive.

"All I have to do is wait you'll tire out and then I'll have two meals." The ghoul shouted.

"Are you really going to force me to dye my bandages red?" Harry muttered. He vanished from sight and appeared beside the ghoul. His sword moved first edged with aura. It cut through the ghoul's throat severing the brainstem. The ghoul's head fell back dangling from tendons. Blood shot out of the ghoul's neck stump. Harry stabbed his hand through the ghoul's chest and wrapped around the kakuhou within. He crushed the organ and ripped it free. His bandages were died red as he thought. Just as he pulled his hand free, he realized he could have blocked out the blood. A mere adjustment of barrier would have sufficed.

He cleaned his blade on the last untainted parts of the ghoul's cloths. "At least you'll give something back." Harry said.

"You're stronger than you let on. Why work with us at all?" Was she questioning his motive? Good, he didn't like blind followers. He wasn't a god.

"Some would prefer to serve in heaven. Others would rule in hell. I prefer the difficult imperfect earth to either. It's better to go through the difficult path and try to understand each other. Some will rule, others will serve, but the path to either will be forever open. I'd rather work with ghouls and build trust than to throw away all possibility out of hand." It will break down it always does. No matter how optimistic the beginning rot and entropy are the future.

"What if someone reveals you to the CCG and the government attacks you?" She asked.

"We'll take our allies with us back the UK and we might change our name. You're an asset of Umbrella. Not even one of our researchers have died under your watch." Harry said. Given enough time there is always a slip. Would Umbrella keep their dogs after they failed their task? Harry didn't know he wasn't on the executive board. He was still a private contractor.

"Is that why you're here. I'm flattered but a text would have sufficed." She was frightened. His sixth sense plucked it from her posture, body temperature, pheromones, and the sweat running down her back. She had a right to be scared, was this what a normal human felt when dealing with a ghoul? Harry looked down to his hand. He was still clutching the kakuhou. His grip relaxed and he dropped it.

"Don't be scared, I'm not here to hurt you." It felt strange for a monster to see him as a monster. What did that make him to normal humans? What would asking her not to be scared do? It was stupid on his part. He needed to choose his words carefully.

Harry walked over to her with human slowness. Every blood-soaked step made things worse. He could feel her heart beat louder and she must have thought him the devil. Could she have guessed what she traded her information for? She might have questioned the sanctity of her soul and chastity if either existed.

"I need relationship advise." The woman stopped and stared at him. He could see the gears in her mind slow to a crawl or stop utterly. Did he break her?

"Is it the girl you were stalking?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm going to meet her in the morning. We're going out on the town and she's teaching me the finer points of Japanese." She turned her head to the side.

"You sound literate enough to me." She said.

"It's artificial. I've only spoken your language under my own skill with her. I had to reapply the translator." It was a long line in the airport and the price was suspiciously higher than the first application.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

"What kind of signals could I give to let her know I'm alright with her being a ghoul?" Harry asked.

"If you go right out and accuse her, she'll do everything in her power to escape you. She'll never trust you not to turn her in. Just show her your invested in your shared relationship. Don't look like prey." It was Harry's turn to turn his head to the side.

"We can feel attraction towards certain humans that look enticing. It's hard to separate a human from food for most ghouls. I'd advise moving more like a human but not as prey. Confidence without your alien steps." She said. Ok he could duplicate a mortal human's mannerisms again with a little study. It would be hard to find the right person to duplicate.

"Could you teach me Inu sensei?" Harry said with a smile. This was perfect, he couldn't imagine a sudden change in mannerisms going wrong. If he did it slowly, adjusting a little at a time making his mannerisms more human then maybe. He'd need more meetings with his inu sensei.

She shifted her hip and gave him an odd look. "Just walk around like you would in public." She ordered. Harry did so careful to keep his feet on the ground and aura under control.

"No that only works if you have human senses. You still smell human but you're off. Your steps are too quiet, and fluid. Does gravity effect you?" She asked.

"When I want it to. I'm also light, I weight only 35kilograms currently." That was a problem. He was still growing, and he did gain a little weight, just not much.

"Try to make your steps heavier. Don't expose your neck, and slow down." Harry followed her instruction making his steps a little heavier and less graceful. Walking as she instructed brought on a realization. He was further from humanity than a ghoul. If he was to live among humans, he needed to move like a human should. It was more difficult acting weak than he thought.

"Is this how you tell the difference between humans and us?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you smell like a human, but you don't move like one. In some ways you smell more human than the normal humans. Many ghouls and even your kind have died from the blunder." She said solemnly. That was his fault, what would she think if she knew he added an alien species to the habitat?

"If integration was easy would it have any value to the people?" Harry asked. He'd forget about the ghoul he killed in a few minutes. Only the blood on his bandages would serve as a reminder. Harry thought about sliding his blade into Dick's chest and dodging that final round aimed at his head. He played that memory repeatedly. It was a hard memory to forget. Then there was the battle against the cockatrice. He remembered the sharp talon piercing his stomaching and ruining his insides. The fist sized scar on his stomach would serve as a further reminder. Then there was the eagle that blew him away by flapping its wings. Its magic caused the wounds that littered Harry's body. The ghoul he killed with ease would be forgotten another shadow in a long line of shadows.

"I don't know if integrating with you people will end well for us. It's something new. Why are you so interested in that girl?" She asked. She's a green-eyed beauty that drove his blood to boil with her every step. She challenged him to learn her language. He felt her sinking into darkness and wanted to give her his hand.

"She's pretty," Harry said.

"You don't have to tell me. I can't hear you move anymore increase the sound. Let me hear your footsteps. You aren't a shadow on the wall." She said. Harry endured her teaching for an hour before she let him stop.

Harry felt more mentally exhausted acting human than learning a new language. "Remember don't expose your neck or turn your back on her. Those actions convey weakness. If nothing else, you'll appear as interesting and alert prey." She said.

Author's note: Thank you for reading tell me what you think with a review. As for why Richard was able to keep up with Harry. Controlled aura is an overwhelming advantage over uncontrolled. Controlled aura can rip through barriers, it increases all physical traits, and greatly increases damage potential. Different qi types attack each other. Only certain special types of qi strains can absorb the qi of others.


	24. Chapter 24

**Edited 05/05/2020**

The library was quiet in the early hours of the morning. Takatsuki wouldn't arrive for some time. He'd pulled an out of place economics book from the engineering section. The title caught his attention, Harry sighed and checked the time. He had an hour before she arrived.

He thumbed the cover open and read through the pages. The theme of this book was the law of large numbers. Tom seemed unpredictable. One day he was shopping for eggs the next he bought a game system. By himself Tom was practically unpredictable unique even. When the supply of something increased the value of the object decreased. By comparing Tom's actions to the actions of several men his age living in his area. Actions can become predictable. Tom will buy eggs 12% of the time when he goes to the store. This is based on the sample size of men Tom's age with a similar background. The larger a test group the more predictable seemingly chaotic actions becomes. The random becomes predictable. With a large enough sample size anything could be predicted. That made him think about aura of all things.

A book written by a mortal man of all things made him question cultivation practices. Had he gone about it all wrong? Would more aura allow him to predict it and gain greater control? He almost shot it down. He had more aura than Dick with vastly less control. That was only thirty times more at this point. Richard certainly had more control. What if Harry had thousands of times more aura? Would the seemingly infinite and chaotic fluctuations of aura become predictable?

"I'm not as smart as I thought I was." Harry said to himself.

The sun was rising when he closed the book. It had left his mind reeling with possibilities. He'd been different before and stepped off the beaten path. Umbrella tower had quite a lot of human essence. If Harry took advantage of it, who knew how powerful he'd become. It was just a hypothesis, and something never tested. The body could only hold so much qi. That number was directly proportionate to the consciousness power of the individual. If Harry adjusted his refiner and foundry in a way that increased their efficiency. It would free up ram or consciousness power in use.

"Was it a good read?" Takatsuki said. He jumped when he heard her voice. His heart raced and his blood pressure skyrocketed. He turned fist raised prepared to destroy whatever interrupted him. He saw her and felt his heart beat faster. Could she hear it what did she think? All he had to do was touch her with his sixth sense and he'd have an idea. Lady ghouls didn't like it when you talked about their eating habits. What would she think if he invaded her soul? He lowered his fist. Harry smiled until his cheeks hurt. She laughed at his discomfort while he settled down.

"It wasn't that funny." Harry grumbled. She'd made a fool of him already. It was all because he refused to use his sixth sense to invade on her privacy. He wanted to show her respect.

"I don't hear your stomach grumbling. Did you eat before you arrived?" His words caught in his throat. Harry's eyes widened; he'd stepped on a land mine. "I'm sorry, your stomach was just loud."

"Oh, did I bother you? Well you should have invited me to a fancy restaurant." She narrowed her eyes. "Did you redo your hypnosis? I told you I'd teach you how to communicate with me." She said with a frown.

"Is it impossible that I'm just that good? Maybe, you should try harder." Harry said. It was his immortal physiology and a quantum database. If anything, he was a bit slow learning the language.

"Swap to English then." Takatsuki snapped.

"You're a beautiful mint haired woman and I'm going to make you love me." Harry proclaimed in his native tongue. Takatsuki hopefully didn't know English. She tilted her head to the side and fluttered her eyelashes.

"Potter Harry, I know English." Takatsuki replied. Harry froze as she laughed at him. He rolled his eyes, and relaxed. A land mine was averted.

"Don't think your job as my tutor has ended, I'm still rude and culturally illiterate." Harry said. She'd stared at him with a pained expression. Danger signs were flashing through his mind she was repairing to call it off. A though solution came to mind. If he asked her out then, what was the worst that could happen. He'd lose the pretense and take on the obligation of learning Takatsuki Sen. If he came on too strong, she'd flee. He needed to prove he was moderately human and not a threat. Being startled must have helped. Or she saw it as an outlier. She'd flee and everything becomes difficult and cruel.

"Why are you desperate for my help? Were you kicked out of a bathhouse?" Harry went quiet it was his only defense.

"Silence is golden and telling. Did you forget to put on your indoor shoes? Has your English barbarism made you an outcast?" Harry lowered his head without removing his eyes from her.

"If you help me, I'll repay your favor." Harry said. She frowned and her eyes glittered like emeralds from a king's ransom. She was the beauty and he was the ugly beast.

"What are you afraid of Harry?" She asked. He was lonely and hated crowds. Flying had helped but the airplane ride had been no picnic. He hated crowds but he dealt with those fears. What would fill him with terror? A vision overcame him. He was sitting on a hill overlooking mountains of corpses. Some of the faces he recognized. The sun was gone, and he was sitting on an ancient stump as the planet flew through the cold of space. He was immortal perfect and alone.

"If the people I've started to know died, they'd be gone. The real them would only exist in those short years of time in the past." He'd kill anything that threatened them. That list was small for now. It was Imo, Hermione, Nomine, and even Dick. They shined bright in his life and he didn't want them to die. Takatsuki would make the list soon enough. It was sad how little he knew about those on his list.

"You're afraid of being alone." Harry imagined himself immortal and perfect alone with no one. It terrified him in a way.

"I'm a social animal as are all humans. Could you survive being alone forever?" Harry asked. This was supposed to be a light conversation what was he doing. He cursed himself for messing up again.

"You're a fool, I'm alone and I'll always be alone." She pulled a book out of her bag and handed it to him. "It's a children's book on the etiquette and social norms of Japan. My caretaker gave it to me. Keep it and remember me. She stared into his eyes. "Don't come back here and don't look for me. You'll regret it if you do." She gathered her things and prepared to leave. What did he do? Had he set off some trip wire in her brain?

"I'm a fool, I'm sorry don't go." Harry stood up and followed her. His heart was pounding, and his emotions were out of his control. He barely concealed his aura.

"Harry, if you follow me, you'll regret it. What if I'm not what you think I am?" She said and walked at a quick pace. Harry followed barely keeping up while maintaining a mortal façade.

"If I don't follow you, I'll regret it more." Harry declared. He wanted to do something to win her over, but he floundered. The words in his database couldn't describe how he felt. That was such a mortal thing to think. What could he say? 'I know we will love each other.' That sounded like madness.

"No, you'll get over me. I'm just a summer vacation crush. You'll return to England and meet a nice British girl." Takatsuki admonished.

"None of them have your words, voice, or passion." Harry said confidently.

"You're reaching Harry. You can only guess at my passion. My words are like any other. What part of my voice is unique?" It was either a toe in the door or teasing. She didn't give him another way in.

"It stands out as more beautiful than any I've heard." She laughed at him and his words mocking him.

"Many would disagree, I've been called annoying before. Just go away. It's better for you if you go." She gave him another in and it might have been a cruel one.

"It wouldn't be better for you, would it?" She increased her speed.

"You don't know anything Potter." She said coldly. "Go away, I'm done with you." This felt like abandonment. He chased her into a dark alley. He paid little attention to the crowd of people watching him chase a girl into a dark alley.

"Are you crazy what are you doing? I told you to go away." Takatsuki yelled as Harry followed behind her. His chest heaved and his heart pounded from the emotions that took him. It was unlikely his control would last much longer.

They turned through alleys as Harry followed her. She kept looking back surprised that he was keeping up. "What are you a racehorse?" She called out.

"What's wrong are you getting tired?" You could always stop so we can talk.

"Go away, you crazy Englishman." Takatsuki yelled. "Can you even find your way out of here?"

"No, I'm lost without you." It was pathetically mortal the feelings that surged within him. He wanted this connection with her. With it he wasn't alone if he let her go then he'd lose a guiding light in the dark. Maybe it was better for him to fall into his dark bitter feelings. Did she know his words meant something more than the physical? Did this girl comprehend how alone he felt? Maybe this was his selfishness.

He fell to the ground wheezing. If he took another step his aura would tear from his control. He closed his eyes to keep her from seeing his eyes shine. Harry sucked in breath filling his lungs as he focused on taming the storm threatening to break loose. This time it wouldn't be a light glow of aura. His body was acting like a cap and pressure was building. Eventually, something would give.

"We only just met. Why are you so obsessive?" Takatsuki asked.

"The world is laid bare before my eyes and I'm disappointed. I wanted to get to know you and forget the world for a while. It seems, I'm the biggest disappointment after all." He hated his weakness, the way his voice rasped, and even how his bandages itched. It might have been an after effect of the darkness. Why did he feel such a bond? Harry knew it was his fault. He decided to take responsibility for his emotions.

"You're stupid and blind. You say the world is laid bare before you. That shows just how little you know. There is always more despair and darkness beneath the light." Takatsuki said.

"Then show me." He challenged.

"You're ill equipped. If I take you with me, it will only end in tragedy. In the dark there are monsters." She said.

"There are monsters in the light as well. The light blinds and tricks, it exchanges protection for obedience." Harry said. "Let me walk in your shoes." He reached out for her and he knew this was his last chance. She took him by the hand.

"You are an obsessive fool. This isn't a tale of romance. My life is a tragedy soaked in blood. This is your last stop. Just tell me to take you back to the library and I will. I'll be your friend for the rest of your time here. We can talk about books, our countries, and see a movie or two. Or you can be stubborn, and you can walk in my shoes. You won't be safe." Takatsuki said. Her words were a break in the storm. His aura calmed down as he regained control.

"We play the cards we are dealt. Its up to us what this tale become." She frowned and her lips scrunched up as if she bit into a lemon. He took her hand and she led him through the dark alleyways. His heart was beating quickly his excitement was building.

He had his bag of holding filled with weapons, his wand, twenty rolls of bandages, and two bags of blood stones. He was dress in a light coat, a pair of jeans, and a stretchy T-shirt. "Where are we going?" Harry asked.

"I smell blood, I'm hungry. Do you know what that means?" Harry shook his head in the negative.

"Have you not heard a news report since coming here?" Takatsuki asked.

"No, I had to sit in on some board meetings, vote on adding a ghoul gang to the pay roll, and go on a convoy to the countryside." Takatsuki froze for a second.

"Harry how did you vote?" Takatsuki asked.

"For the ghoul gang. You called me Harry does that mean I can call you Sen?" Harry asked.

"Call me Eto in private. I'd prefer Sen or my surname in public. What does Umbrella do?" Eto asked. Her voice took on a sing song quality.

"Normal corporate day to day stuff. We front as a pharmaceutical company, run illegal experiments, and hire any force we need. I think the execs have taken an interest in RC cells. I don't know how we're going to turn a profit on them. Its illegal to even handle them in most cases." Her eyes were growing larger with each revelation. He squeezed her hand. "A lot of this is rumor and speculation." Harry added.

"What about hiring a ghoul gang?" Eto asked.

"That's to protect our staff while they go bar hopping." Harry said.

"What if they're captured by the CCG won't they link it to Umbrella?" Eto asked.

"We'll blame it on a patsy and claim Umbrella had no idea what was going on. Then we'll bribe the prime minster and it'll be swept under the rug. The CCG will be wary of us from that point on but there have been preparations made for them. Some of our spies have begun infiltration. Just standard day to day for Umbrella." Eto's green eyes were shining at Harry eerily.

"Are you an executive and why are you so open with me?" Eto asked.

"If you ran around screaming Umbrella's crimes at the top of your lungs nothing would come of it. We've already ran the boy who cried wolf strategy in Britain. You could accuse us of every crime under the sun and no one would believe you. Japan is different for now. The Japanese are wary of our name and our growing interests. Umbrella is also wary and prepared." If they aren't then Harry would wash his hands of them. "As for your first question. I'm not an executive. I'm a shareholder and a private contractor. To be an executive you need more than stock. Each executive is personally powerful." Harry said. As he recalled the weaklings were at least stage ten now. Only Claudia and the newest CEO managed to reach foundry.

Her right green eye turned into a kagugan. From her purse she pulled out some bandages of her own. She opened a door on the side of a building, and they entered. She quickly changed in another room and emerged wearing a robe.

"Harry this is my apartment. We're in the third ward now if you're wondering. You're going to stay here while I'm gone. Don't touch anything in the fridge. I'll pick you up some British feed." She winked at him. "Do you have any allergies?" Harry shook his head. "I'll surprise you then."

Before she left, she glared at him intensely. "Don't read anything on my desk or on the table. They're not ready for the world to see." Then he'd bug her until she read it to him.

"What happened to showing me how dark the world is?" Harry asked her.

"Nope, you don't get a front row seat anymore. You've been promoted to sugar daddy and ghoul revolution wallet. Did you think I'd introduce you to my gang and let them pick on you?" Eto said.

She left through a window without a goodbye. With her gone Harry came to a revelation. Umbrella wasn't scared of him anymore. He handed them the ability to elevate from refinery to foundry.

Harry didn't know how much pull he still had with Umbrella. When he was the only foundry expert in town, he had plenty of power. That was no longer the case. They had two inexperienced foundry experts and the executive board would surely follow. Harry felt like America after the Soviet Union got the nuke. He no longer had a perfect trump card.

He looked around her apartment. Dishes were piled in the sink rank and unattended. Black stagnant water covered them with the barest hint of soap. The kitchen sink itself was covered in mold. It hadn't been cleaned in a long time. The ceiling fan was a centimeter thick with dust. On the yellowed walls and ceiling Harry saw the cloudy tell-tale signs of indoor smoking. There were rust colored footprints all over the carpet leading to the bathroom. Harry hovered towards the floor following a rank smell. Underneath the fridge, he saw a rotting human hand with teeth marks on the bone. Holes covered a few of the walls reminding Harry of that time he hid from Dudley's gang in a crack house.

From what he could tell the holes were made and none of the plaster or insulation was removed. Both Eto and the previous owners of this place weren't apt at cleaning. This worked in his favor. He pulled his wand out of his back of holding and paused. It might have been too soon to show off magic.

It was better to feed her a little at a time. Eto had her own secrets. "That girl is cray." Nomine said.

"Are you finally talking to me? I thought you were angry." Harry said.

"No, the eagle wounded me worse than I thought. I need more rest. Beware the fallen star Harry. It has its own agenda." Nomine said.

"Wait, what is the fallen star?" Harry asked.

"You can guess. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure it out. If you apply yourself." Nomine said. Harry frowned as she went dormant again. This was his fault. If he was stronger, he wouldn't look like a mummy.

He sat on Eto's couch and held his head in his hands. It always boiled down to power. There had to be something he could do to increase his power. He had his own quantum computer connected to his mind. There had to be a clue to the secret of foundry somewhere.

Harry thought back to his fights and his blunders. Voldemort should have been killed out of hand. He wanted to test out his aura. He let Voldemort get stronger and that decision would kill a lot of people. Aura was affected by his emotions. That was even more prevalent today. When he thought his journey with Eto was coming to an end, he couldn't handle it. Harry thought himself immune to outbursts. Harry started to laugh at himself. He laughed about the scars all over his body. Then he laughed at his inability to beat Dick like he should have.

After his laughter died down, he thought about aura. What was it, why did it emerge from qi, and why was it a constant? He'd read about it mechanically but didn't know how it worked. Harry wasn't a scientist. He did know the scientific method.

He straightened himself up on the couch. Aura won't harm something unless the wielder wants it to. It was a basic hypothesis. His toe dip into science.

Harry snatched a mouse off the floor. It struggled and bit at Harry's fingers. The mouse bit down on his skin with all its might. A smirk spread across Harry's face. This wasn't a bad feeling. He had control over this mouse. It was Harry who determined whether it lived or died. Wasn't that true for most of the world. Couldn't a grown man say that about any child he came across. Harry amended the difference was consequences. No force would revolt against Harry for killing a mouse.

He held the mouse in his hand and decided on a test for his hypothesis. He'd infuse the mouse with aura until it was harmed. He placed a second hand on the mouse and surrounded it with green aura.

Green light filled the apartment as light shined between his fingers. In moments his sixth sense detected the mouse's death. He didn't sense any malice towards the mouse. This hadn't been an attack of any time. Aura never affected Harry's body in a negative way. It was a force of Harry himself. Why did the mouse die? Harry opened his hands expecting to see the corpse of the little grey mouse.

In his hands was a dried-out skeleton of a mouse. Something glittered green. It was a tiny fleck of green. Harry touched it and knew it was solid Harry essence or his qi. This was horrible. He held the corpse in his other hand and pushed aura through it. The aura passed through the corpse as if nothing was there.

Aura when passing through something will separate the essence that make up the qi from whence it came from the object. That was his next hypothesis. It was the conclusion he received after his first theory was proved wrong by his test.

Harry reached into his bag and pulled out some blood stones. By passing aura through these beads his own qi will emerge separated from the object.

He held the bead in his hand and pushed his aura through it. In no time black dust flaked off the bead revealing a much smaller green stone. What would happen if he did this to someone? He could kill people with his aura and reduce them to food for his body. He could feed off the world around him directly and take what he needed. This was cultivation keeping what you needed and leaving the remainder.

He didn't know why qi produced aura. Harry turned his head. The tiny stone from the mouse was diffusing. Something about it was unbalanced. He didn't know for sure; he'd have to test it. Aura was pouring off the little stone and the stone was becoming less. The aura released flowed through objects. Instead of ripping Harry's qi out of them, they were stripped away slowly. Was it because the qi was too little or because there was no control over the qi?

There was a lot he didn't know and never asked. Now that he was alone here waiting for Eto to return he had questions. Would his own qi decrease, if he stopped passively absorbing essence and refining it? That would mean they weren't immortal by any means. To be immortal entropy could have no effect on you. Then again, they used reproduction to fight it if his hypothesis was correct.

If he stopped absorbing essence his qi would dwindle as his aura poured out of him. Qi naturally rejoined the essence of heaven and earth overtime.

Harry cut off his refinery and foundry and held his breath. His aura continued to pour out of him. He waited and aura continued to pour out of him. There was so much qi it was hard to tell. Thirty minutes passed, then an hour, and two hours. He searched through his qi blocks looking for the first ones. He found a tiny piece of one of his first blocks. He had no idea where consciousness power played on the rate of diffusion. It was much slower than the speck of his qi. It was even slower than the rate of the qi stone. Still it happened. Aura was created by diffusion. It was qi leaving the body to merge back with the essence of heaven and earth.

They were no matter the Nicolas Flamel and his elixir of life. They were dependent on consumption to sustain themselves. How could they call themselves immortals?

He sunk into meditation and looked over his refinery. It was a mess of random flames, severing magic, and attraction. With a wave of his mind he shattered the old refinery and rebuilt it. All he needed was dense aura to refine essence. His consciousness naturally consumed the essence of heaven and earth. In a sense he created a pipe that blasted newly absorbed essence as it made its way to the foundry to be compacted and folded. Harry smiled as his mind felt unburdened. The more aura he had the faster he could refine essence. His only limit was how much essence he could absorb.

He had another hypothesis to test. By absorbing vast amounts of qi and increasing aura production to a ludicrous degree, aura could be predicted and by predicting aura it could be controlled. To test his last hypothesis, he'd need to predict aura. He'd need to use the towers to test out his hypothesis or the forbidden forest at Hogwarts. It was summer and he had no idea how the diffusion would work.

A new thought ran through his mind. It should have occurred to him before but, it never occurred to him. Essence was finite. The essence that matched him was even more finite. How many ascended could the world contain? How long after the defeat of the gods before qi experts fought each other over the world's resources? Will the first to ascend turn on the other qi experts and take the world's qi for themselves?

Harry opened his eyes and placed his feet on the ground. He'd been meditating and floating for a while. His mind had been fully at work processing the situation.

With a good portion of his consciousness freed up his rate of processing essence doubled. Harry cleaned out the rest of his stash of blood stones. The laws of diffusion dictated that when he cleared an area of essence the absence should fill the hole with new essence. This naturally lowered the overall essence of heaven and earth. So long as Harry took faster than it diffused from his body, he'd gain qi.

By focusing, he summoned his aura. Green power spread around his body until it left the range of his consciousness power's control. That energy returned to the essence of the world. It was constant and there was nothing he could do about it. Instead he focused on a small area of aura and pushed it into his magic/consciousness power. Harry took hold of his wand increasing his consciousness power further and mixed the two forces. Harry used his sixth sense to observe the interaction.

Magic was consciousness power often made static in the form of a spell. That spell naturally performed the function of cultivation by gathering essence most like the spell. That did not make the spell qi. Qi was essence perfectly attuned to the consciousness of an individual. Harry wasn't sure if that was quite right either. The only way to know for sure was to test his theories.

He watched the magic fit itself with the aura. That didn't complete the spell. Instead it empowered the spell. This was why qi or aura mixed with a spell was stronger than standard magic. The spell was better with aura than without. By what percentage Harry didn't know. He could sense the spell and the aura, but he didn't know what he was looking at. He needed to understand spell creation.

For the first time in over a year Harry decided to sleep. He hadn't rested his body in a long time. There was seemingly no need for it anymore. Immortals didn't need sleep. Qi rested the mind. As he learned more, he learned how much he didn't know. Harry needed to test things for himself. That started with a mouse and resting through sleep was the next logical step. He closed his eyes and surrendered to the black.

**Author's note: Hey guys, I've edited the whole story. The next two days i'm going to work on some new chapters. I plan to get at least to chapter 30 and into year 2. Review**


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